Bound To You
by Tmntfreak1996
Summary: Why is Love such a confusing thing? Why is college always filled with complications? For three best friends New York is their dream city, filled with opportunities and excitement! But what they don't know is what kinds of excitement and complications they'll face, and as the tale goes on they'll realize just how much about their lives they don't know OcXLeo OcXRaph OcXMikey R&R!
1. BTY Chapter 1

***sneaks on her account* psst psst psst hey guys, It's me**_**Icecreampopstar**_**;)**_**Tmntfreak1996**_**couldn't get on so I am helping her today ^_^ so here it is, revised and edited by**_**Tmntfreak1996**_

**Chapter 1**

Leeann: _Hey Liza_

Elizabeth: _Hey Leeann_

Leeann: _...you still up for goin' to the Big Apple tomorrow?_

Elizabeth: _you bet! What about you?_

Leeann: yo_u kiddin' we've been planning this for months!_

Elizabeth: _I know right?!, I can't wait!_

Leeann: _Me neither I got to go though, I have to finish packing_

Elizabeth: _alrighty same here, talk to you later_

Leeann: _No! talk to you tomorrow!_

Elizabeth: _Ok haha tomorrow then_

_**~ Leeann's p.o.v~**_

I hang up the phone connected to the kitchen wall and run upstairs to my room where my suitcase sits on the scarlet covered bed. The open suitcase contains various items of clothing for every possible circumstance, I'm going through the luggage when my mother walks in and closes the door behind her.

"Have you got everything packed?" she asks me, by her tone I know that she isn't happy at how far I'll be going from home, I walk over to the closet.

"Yea mama I've got everything I'm gonna need for school" I respond as I throw a few of my favorite books in my suitcase, I continue in as comforting a tone as I can to ease her obvious nerves "and if I don't then once I get a job I'll buy whatever I need, the dorms aren't too far away from a supermarket"

"Well I hope you know that you can always change your mind and stay home" she says hopefully, she chuckles when I close my suitcase and sit on it, trying to get it to close.

"I know mama but I don't think I'm gonna change my mind, if I don't go to New York I'll never get into NYU!" I stand and sigh in relief as my suitcase zips with ease, standing and turning to face her with my hands on my hips in triumph "Besides it's not like you'll never see me again, I'll come to visit every chance I can!"

"I know you will because if ya don't I'll come to you! Well, anyway I have something for you" she says, laughing as she pulls a thick white envelope out of her back-pocket and hands it to me, I take it from her slowly, suspicious of what's inside.

"Open it" she says quietly. I raise an eyebrow as I rip open the seal and bring to light its contents, which happens to be around $350 cash, my jaw drops.

"Whoa! Where did you get all this!" I ask her, thoroughly surprised, I look my mother in the eye as she explains.

"Ever since you told me you were going to culinary school in New York I've been saving up for you" she says proudly but she looks down, knowing what I'm about to say.

"Are you insane? You have bill's to pay, why are you giving me this?" I say to her, she looks at me with a smile on her face as she takes the money from me and puts it back into the envelope, placing it in my army issue duffle bag that I got from my best friend, which I'll be using as a carry on.

"No I'm not insane I just wanna be sure that you'll be able to pay for your dorms" As she explains my eyes widen, our family has never really been able to express our emotions out loud, we only express them through actions and I know that this is her way of giving me her blessing to go to New York.

"Thank you mama, I love you" I say as I crush her in a hug which she returns after momentary shock.

"Your welcome sweetie I love you too" she says softly, smoothing the hair on top of my head carefully.

_***~Elizabeth's POV five minutes before, just states away~***_

I hang up the phone, walking over to my bed. Finally I'm done with high school. I'm not just happy cause I'm done with the work I had to do to graduate, I'm happy that I don't have to put up with all the crappy people at my school. I'm just happy to be getting out and away from it all. I do have to admit though, I'm gonna miss Oklahoma. I mean New York is totally different then here, I'm goin' to have to get over my claustrophobia of bein' in a big city. Been in one before, we were in DC. It was nice there but just not a whole lot of space, mostly buildings. Me, living in a little town most of my life makes me not all that used to it, I go to grab my make up bag from the bathroom and come back looking at my bed.

"Muzzie!" I laugh, shooing my dog off of the clothes he's laying on "I know." I sit on the bed and scratch the back of his ear.

"I'm gonna miss you too buddy." I say to him, after I got all my clothes you know the usual pants, shirts, bras, and what not, ready and packed. Then Mom walks in..._oh Lord_.

"Honey. I got some money for you when you need it and I got you some gum for the plane ride so your ears won't pop and I got you some of your favorite cookies and some-" as she went on I pick up the money she placed in my bed.

"Mom! This is like almost 500 dollars!" I say, holding out the money.

"Me and your Father just want to make sure our baby girl's gonna be okay off on her own." she says, her eyes watering.

"Ugh Mom don't get all teared up. You're gonna make me cry." I say, hugging her.

"I'm sorry sweetheart. It's just my baby's all grown up." she exclaims, looking at me with a sad smile, I smile up at her reassuringly and she takes a deep breathe "Well I'll let you finish packing." She wipes her face and walks to the door. "You know your always welcome back here honey."

"I know Momma. Thanks." I say, smiling and she leaves to go find my little brother who only God knows were he could have gone. Then I got back to my packing. I grab my iPod and it's charger, some CD's, and my Camera. Then finish packing some other things.

_**~* the next morning Leeann's POV*~**_

" GAAH!" I, who had been enjoying a peaceful night's sleep, am wrenched abruptly from my dreams when my cell phone starts to ring jarringly loud in my ears, majorly due to the headphones I had forgotten to remove last night before falling asleep.

Nonetheless I exclaim my surprise as I'm nearly deafened and fall off my bed, ripping the head phones out of my ears and grudgingly answering the phone.

"Hello? Liza, is that you?" I ask groggily as I sit on the floor tangled in my sheets and pretending not to sound like I'm deciding whether or not to fall back asleep right here and now.

"HEEEYYY LEEANN!" Elizabeth shouts excitedly into the phone.

"Ugh!" I scowl a little and hold the phone slightly away from my ear and then put it back cautiously. I look at the clock, it reads 5:25 AM.

"Liza? Did you forget what _time_ it is in Illinois?" I ask her, just slightly amused by my overly hyper friend as I stand and start trying to make my way over to the light switch.

"_Pffffffft_, Did _you_ forget what _today_ is?" Elizabeth asks over the phone, I know immediately that she must have rolled her eyes at me.

"Liza! It's too early for me to remember my _middle_ _name_ for Christ's sake! Let alone what _today_ is!" I whisper theatrically, tripping over something large. " Damnit!" I mutter and turn the light on to examine what's assaulted my foot.

"Well look at the calendar!" Elizabeth says still excited, My scowl disappears as my eyes drop to the dufflebag I had thrown in front of the bedroom door the night before.

"I don't have to! Ya know why?!" I ask her suddenly, my sleep fogged mind clearing as said duffle bag brings my memory back.

"Why?!"

"We're going to New York city today!" I shout into the phone, hoping to get a little payback for her making me fall off the bed, along with the fact that I'm genuinely excited about today.

"Aaaah I'm so excited!" Elizabeth yells happily, her voice sounding as if she were jumping up and down.

"So Liza, when does your flight leave again" I ask her, now in a thoroughly good mood as I walk to the bathroom to do something with my curly honey brown hair.

"Um 6 I think" she says slightly, questioning herself.

"Really? In the morning?!" I ask shocked, I hadn't thought she would have to wake up that early. I grab a black rubber band, putting it around my wrist like a bracelet as I put the phone on speaker and set it on the counter. I grab my brush, determined to wrestle all the knots out of my thick, hip length hair.

"Yea it was the best flight I could get" she says as though this fact in and of itself has exhausted her.

"Oh! Wait when did you get up?" I ask, suddenly curious, as I start to attempt to pull all of my hair into a high ponytail.

"5" she says matter of factly, I scowl at my refection and pull my hair out of its pony tail, beginning to twist it into a thick braid.

"Holy crap really? That's freakin' early!" I say, laughing a little. I look at the clock in my phone seeing its 5:45 as I tie off my braid and pick up the device.

I exit the bathroom and turn right to go downstairs, not caring that I'm wearing shorts and a tank top until my bare feet hit the tile on the first floor landing.

"Yeah! I'm excited! I can't wait till we get to NYC!" she says ecstatically.

"I know right!" I say, laughing into the phone as I pinch it between my shoulder and cheek, holding out my arms to feel for a light switch in the pitch black. I can hear steady breathing from the couch and I know my uncle is probably asleep on it again.

"When does your flight leave?" Elizabeth asks, sounding like she's getting into a car. I decide to leave the light in the living room off to better my chances of not waking up the 6'5 male on the couch and start feeling my way to the kitchen, once inside it I graze my hands against the walls to _see_ where I'm going.

"8- Shit!" I say, running into the island in the kitchen in a way that the corner of it catches me right on my hip, I hear Elizabeth laugh.

"Did you run into the island again? Because I don't think 8-shit is a number!" she says still laughing, I raise my eyebrow.

"How did you know I ran into the island?" I ask, laughing a little as I fumble for the light switch, finally flipping it. I don't care if I wake up the abominable jerk face, I'm not going to chance missing my flight because of clumsiness.

"Leea.. You do it every morning!" Elizabeth says slightly serious, I roll my eyes and lean against the counter.

"Oh yeah? Well... Oh hush it" I say, trying not to laugh despite myself. Elizabeth cracks up and soon I'm laughing along with her. A hand drops down heavily on my shoulder, almost toppling me over and I flinch, turning around quickly to find my uncle standing there.

He has cropped black hair and part of a purple tattoo peeks out from his neckline of his wife beater. I try not to return the glare he's giving me.

"Be quiet I can hear you from the couch.." he says, irritated. I try not to laugh or make a comment about how he's _always_ on the couch.

"Leeanna? What happened? Are you okay?" Liza asks, sounding confused.

"Don't worry Liz, it's just _Bennie_" I say, letting sarcasm seep into my voice as I call him by the much hated nickname my dad had given him back when they were friends, He glares at me harder.

"Watch your attitude or you _won't_ be going _anywhere_ today" he says, with a smug little smirk that just pisses me off. I grit my teeth.

"Liza let me call you back" I say hanging up the phone without waiting for her response.

"It seems as though you've lost your memory _Ben_, so let this be a refresher. I am _19 years old_, I can _do__ whatever_ I want, I can _go__ wherever_ I want, and I can _say__ whatever_ I want _however_ I want to say it, and furthermore since you're _not_ my father, you have _no_ control over me so you'd better get used to it. Cause if not then things between us are gonna get ugly" I say angrily, his face turns red and he looks like he's about to respond, but I step back just as someone comes down the stairs.

"Hey Lee, hey Uncle Benjamin!" my 8 year old little brother yawns, stalking sleepily over to me, he sits on the ground in front of my feet and hugs my legs until I pick him up and walk him over to the counter. I'm determined to keep my little brother from getting in the middle of this.

"You want your cereal?" I ask him as I set him on the counter, rubbing his eyes he nods, letting loose another yawn before waving to Benjamin.

I smile, pouring him a bowl of fruit loops and giving it to him as I lower him down from the counter and set him on his feet. I watch as the tired blonde walks over to the table and sits down, resting his head on it to, once again, try to eat sideways. Benjamin turns and walks out of the kitchen, glaring as I pick up my cell again and call Elizabeth back.

"Leeann?! What happened! That sounded like Ben!" she says sounding worried, from the background noise I figure she's already at the airport already, I chuckle a little.

"That would be cause it was kiddo, sorry 'bout hanging up, I had to let him know how todays going to go" I say nonchalant, grabbing an apple and going up stairs to get dressed, throwing Benjamin a cheeky smile as I do.

"Seriously?! You had to give him a piece of your mind! what'd you say?" she says, she sounds exasperated and I recount our entire conversation to her as I go back into my room and to the clothes I laid out on my bed, She sighs.

"Really? Can't you just back down from a fight every once and while?! It's relaxing you should try it!" Elizabeth says, laughing a little.

I chuckle, grabbing the scarlet tank top, pair of grey skinny jeans, red and blue converse, and my dad's old tan construction jacket, Which is three sizes to big but comfy as heck, from the rocking chair in the corner of the room. I press the phone between my shoulder and cheek again as I get dressed.

"If I didn't get into sticky situations then who would be?" I say, smiling. Elizabeth laughs and I change into my jeans and tank top, laying my dad's jacket on my still unmade bed. I sit on the rumbled covers and pull on some socks.

"I guess you're right" she say, a lady in the background makes last calls for a New York flight.

"uh Liz.. Shouldn't you be on your plane by now?" I ask her, a little confused as I glance at the silver watch I've just slipped onto my wrist. She gasps and I hear her say some goodbyes.

"Alright well I'll talk to you later okay?" she says, sounding like she's juggling four things at once, I smile.

"Okey dokey, I'll see you later kiddo!" I say just before we hang up. I grab my converse and lace them up just as my mother opens my bed room door and pops her head in, she looks surprised.

"I came in to wake you but it seems that someone beat me to it" she says, laughing a little. I look at the clock, it reads 6:01, I laugh because if Elizabeth hadn't have called I probably wouldn't have woken up since my alarm clock, that was set for 5:58, has apparently crapped out again, My mom walks into the room and sits on the side of the bed next to me.

"You sure you want to do this?" she asks me, sounding slightly sad, I nod and hug her tightly. I start to hear voices downstairs and doors opening and closing. I look at my mom with an unspoken question.

"Your fathers here and he brought the entire brood" she says, rolling her eyes. I smile excitedly as she stands and takes my suitcase away from me, nodding to the duffel bag on the floor. I oblige and grab my uneaten apple and coat, standing with my mom to go greet them.

As we near the stairs I see my dad and his girlfriend Maria at the bottom, as I descend the stairs I hug my dad and the rest of my family, finding a very frustrated looking Benjamin, apparently booted form the couch, glaring at the younger members of my sibling tribe.

My 4 year old half-sister Kary is standing by the car seat where my 8 week old little brothers Jess and Jordan are fast asleep as their two year old predecessor Bruce rocks their chairs.

My three older sisters Avery 21, Isabella 19, and Dona 17 are now sitting on the couch talking and poking fun at each other like they always do. Benjamin announces that he has to go to work and quickly makes his escape out the front door, ignoring my father's glares as he goes.

After a half an hour I'm holding Bruce on the couch while the rest of my family plays 'Spoons' at the kitchen table unable to shake the tense foreboding in my stomach as Bruce pulls my hair and Kary climbs up to lay her head in my lap, promptly falling asleep.

_**HEY GUYS! I CHANGED ONE OF THE CHARACTERS NAMES SO IF YOU SEE LEEANNA REFERED TO AS ANYTHING PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LET ME KNOW! IF YOU DO PLEASE MESSAGE ME WITH THE CHAPTER IT WAS IN AND WHATEVER PART OF THE STORY YOU WERE AT SO I DON"T HAVE TO TAKE A YEAR FINDING AND FIXING IT FOR YOU GUYS! LOVE YOU! BYE! **_


	2. BTY Chapter 2

**_WARNING THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS EXTREME AWESOMENESS AND SHOULD NOT BE READ IF YOU AREN'T INTUNED WITH YOUR INNER AWESOME!_**

**~*Elizabeths POV*~**

I exit the terminal like the woman on the plane told me too and walk to baggage claim. I wonder when Leeann's flight will land as my thoughts drift towards puppy's and then to my dogs muzzie and Hobbes then, strangely enough, to unicorns.

I figure that's caused by all the monster and Reese's I had on the plane. After I grab my bags I sit down on a plastic green chair to wait. After a few minutes my sugar rush wears off and before I know it I start to drift.

**~* In Dreamland*~**

I sit on a hay bale, all alone up in the loft just watching people dance down below to the beginnings of a slow love song that I can't put my finger on the name of when I felt a hand take mine, pulling me to my feet.

A boy in a over exaggerated cowboy outfit pulls me in close and we start to sway to the music. I notice that, as I wrap my arms around him, his back is rounded and rough and his hands felt weird on my sides, As though he had only three fingers.

I looked up in curiosity but his hat shadowed his face, all except for two bright blue eyes peering back at me. I was about to ask who he was and if he would take off his hat when I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched a little, but then the hand started to shake me gently.

**~*End of Dream*~**

I realize where I am and that someone real is shaking me. I, on a knee jerk reaction, bring my hand up and slap them as hard as I can, afraid that its some creep.

"Ow! Liza?! What was that for?!" I heard a familiar voice say. I open my eyes to find a girl standing over me, holding her now red cheek. She has on a way too big for her tan jacket and grey jeans with a red suitcase sitting next to her.

She has pale green eyes that have a navy blue ring around the outside, and dishwater brown thick hair in a braid hanging over her shoulder and then I realize that it's Leeann. I gasp and cover my mouth, jumping up and tackling her in a hug. After a second of shock she returns the hug and we laugh, jumping up and down in excitement.

"I can't believe I'm finally meeting you in person!" she says happily, looking around the airport.

"I know right!" I say still laughing, I notice that people are staring at us and Lee puts her hands on her hips and glares back at a particularly blatant mountain of a man who looks much too big for the small green airport chair.

"Take a picture buddy, it lasts longer" she says to him, ignoring how intimidating this massive blond man, who had been sitting a few seats away from me really is.

He grins, pulling out his phone, and taking a picture of us. Leeann balls up her fists and takes a step toward him but I grab her arm and pull her in the opposite direction.

"Let's just go, he's not worth it" I whisper to her, trying to calm her down a little so we can leave. After a minute she let her hands go slack and grabs her suitcase and mine, walking toward the exit. I follow her, relieved that I'd been able to stop her before anything bad happened.

We walk out of the airport and are assaulted by the loudness of midday New York City. Leea steps right up to the curb and brings her fingers to her lips, letting out a shrill whistle loud enough to stop a cab down the street along with two across it. I laugh, my eyes widening a little.

"How do you do that?" I ask her, she smiles, grabbing our suitcases again and starting off toward the waiting cab.

"When you've got four sisters and four brothers you've got to learn a way to get everyone's attention" she says happily, opening the cab door for me as the driver gets out and opens the trunk. He takes the suitcases from Leea and opens the other door for her as I duck my head and slide in as she goes around. She gets in and sits next to me as we hear the trunk close. The driver gets in a moment later and turned back to face us.

"Darrell Jones at your service, so where to ladies?" he said his accent becoming the final confirmation that we had finally made it to the Big Apple. Leea smiles and leans forward.

"NYU dorms" she says politely, her earlier anger seemingly forgotten, Darrell smiles and gives us both the once over as he turns around and pulls up off the curb and into traffic, Leea smiles and turns to face me.

"So, after I beat you at twister once we set everything up, how about we go get something to eat" she says, obviously trying not to smile. I throw my head back and laugh.

"You may box but I'm a heck of a lot more flexible then you are!" I challenge her, laughing harder. She lifts an eyebrow at me and holds out her hand to shake.

"Oh it's on!" she says laughing as we shake on it.

Ten minutes later we pay the driver and step out of the cab, our suitcases in hand as we walk into our college dormitory.

**_~*Down in the Sewers, Mikeys pov*~_**

"Cowabunga!" I shout as I ride my skateboard doing a perfect wheelie into the lair. Raph is at the punching bag, working on the same move as when I'd left and Don is at his computers talking calmly to an angry woman that I can even hear from where I stand at the door. Master Splinter is on the couch with April, watching his shows and debating whether Donna would get back with whoever and Leo as per usual is nowhere to be seen, I can only assume that Owen's down for a nap.

"Hey guys!" I say, waving to everyone, April turns around and greets me with a half distracted wave then went back to their debate. Everyone else just keeps at what they were doing.

I sigh at the same time Donny does and turn my head to look at him, mouth open to jinx him.

"ma'am, did you plug in your computer?" Don balls his fists slightly and runs a hand down his face at her answer. "Yes ma'am that would help"

I click my jaw shut and chuckle a little, propping my board up against the wall and go to the kitchen to start making dinner for everyone. I push open the swinging door to the kitchen and immediately go to grab a pot from the cupboard, thinking about doing spaghetti to shake things up.

"Hey mike, tell everyone that we're going out tonight" I jump when I hear Leo right over my shoulder, yelping in surprise I turn around quickly.

"Dude! Knock on the door or something! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I say a hand on my chest theatrically, Leo just chuckle's and puts a hand on my shoulder

"Just tell everyone to meet in the living room in ten minutes" he laughs a little and leave's the room.

_**~*Normal POV*~**_

Both girls are currently in a diner, their bags just dropped off at the dorm they shared as they rush to the nearest place so they could eat and chat. Airplane food did not have quality service .

Both girls couldn't stop smiling as they walk in, Mostly Elizabeth since she was an active ball of hyper, but Leea didn't mind, and was currently trying not to cry in laughter when Elizabeth was telling a funny story about her family.

"...so he kicked your dad in the nuts by accident?" She asks wiping tears from her eyes from laughing so hard.

"Yeah but my brother felt so bad that he-" she can't finish the sentence because she's laughing as hard as Leea.

"He-e what?" Leea stutters still laughing. Elizabeth managed to keep calm for a total of 5 seconds before practically yelling.

"He let dad kick him in the balls!" and just like that both girls almost end up on the floor rolling around laughing so hard.

Few minutes later and both girls are calm, especially when a scary waiter reminds them to keep quiet inside. Both girls are now looking at the menu and deciding what to have.

"Hmmm burger and fries sound so good right now" Leea muse's, deep in thought, as she looks at the ingredients. "Bet I could make it better though" Elizabeth chuckles, glancing at Leea.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night" Elizabeth joked, Leeann rolls her eyes and smiles a little at the sarcastic comment before placing her menu down and drumming her fingers on the table.

"You decided yet?" She asks a little impatient, her stomach practically begging her to feed it.

"Chill hang on...I'll have the….- BREANNA!" Elizabeth shouts. Leea looks at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Ok first off she's in Nebraska, and second i don't know if she is that fast to get here and third I don't think they'd let you eat her" she says chuckling.

"No no, look!" Elizabeth says, pointing to a girl sitting by the bar who greatly resembled the one called Breanna.

In fact, the women in question turns around at the sound of her name and smiles big, seeing the two girls.

_**~*Breanna POV A few minutes earlier*~**_

A young woman around 20 is making her way to Dave's Diner in Manhattan New York, after a long day at school all she wants was to pick up dinner, then go out and dance the weekend away.

Breanna is a country girl from Nebraska, but managed to get a scholarship in Manhattan for education and with lots of hugs and kisses goodbye, she was on her way to New York. She managed to get a cheap apartment, small and cozy, and right across from the NYU dormitories just right for her.

Breanna is strawberry blonde, curvy, with pale skin, freckles and blue eyes. She enjoys reading and writing and singing and dancing as well. Breanna comes from a family of two parents and three little brothers. Being a close knit family they are, it was hard for her to move away, but she manages.

Arriving in the dinner, she sits at the booth and smiles at Tory, the cool guy, looks intimidating but was really a big sweet heart.

"The usual Tor" she says, putting down some dollar bills.

"One of those nights?" His rough voice asks as he takes the money and starts cooking her food.

She nods but before asking, hears her name being shouted out in the diner.

**_~*Normal POV*~_**

"Well well well, if it ain't my two favorite bitches in the world" she laughs along with Leea, but Elizabeth gets up so fast that in a blur, Breanna finds herself being squeezed to death.

It doesn't take to long for Leea to join as all three squeal and jump up and down, hugging each other. As they all calm down Leea punches Breanna in the arm lightly.

"Why didn't you tell us you were in NYC?!" Leea says happily. Breanna rubs her arm, laughing a little.

"I guess I just forgot too" she says and Leea raises her eyebrow a little in a jokingly accusatory manner

"I'm sorry! It's been pretty hectic here lately! Tonight was my night to get out in the town and have a little fun!" she says, raising her hands in mock surrender. Elizabeth smiles her_, _just got a light bulb idea_,_ smile and puts her arms over Leea and Breanna's shoulders.

"Let's do it!" she says excitedly, Leea looks at her in confusion.

"Do what?" she asks, laughing a little nervously, Elizabeth grins.

"Go clubbing! Have fun!" Elizabeth says, Leea's eyes nearly bug a little.

"Uh Liza unless you're going to teach me in the next three seconds, I've got no clue how to dance" she looks down at herself. "And unless you haven't noticed I'm not exactly dressed for clubbing" she says, Elizabeth frowns and Breanna grabs their hands, pulling them towards the door.

"Then let's go get something! And trust me Lee, anyone can dance even you" she says confidently as she drags them out the door and down the street to the nearest clothing store.

She went straight to the clearance racks and pulled out what looked like a little black one shoulder dress and a pair of black pumps for Elizabeth and a baby blue ribbed strapless dress and a pair of blue flats for Leeann. She hands them these items and sends them to the dressing rooms, Leeann with a under enthusiastic expression on her face. Bre grabs a bright red cocktail dress off the rack along with a pair of black wedge heels and went into the dressing rooms too.


	3. BTY Chapter 3

_**~*Back with the Turtles*~**_

"April got a tip on a gang in downtown New York, we're going to patrol there tonight" Leo says as he and his brothers run across the rooftops Raph nods and so does Donny, Mikey frowns.

"Dude, unless you lost your memory you do remember it's our 21st birthday today right?" he says, picking up the pace a little. Leo catches up, frowning at Mikey.

"I don't know Mike, what if we get caught?" Leo says as the others join them, already knowing what Mikey intended to suggest. Raph stops abruptly for a minute and stares at the street below. Leo turns back and run to him.

"What is it Raph? A mugging?" he asks a little confused. He follows Raphs line of sight to a trio of girls standing on the street.

One of them wearing a black dress, the other a blue strapless one and the third a red strapless cocktail dress.

The girl in the blue dress brings her fingertips to her lips and whistles so loud it stops a cab that had just passed by them, and made what few people were on the street turn and stare. Raph's eyes widen and Mike and Don finally notice they'd stopped and join them. Mikey follows Raph's line of sight to the girl in blue.

"Ooo Raphie boys got a crush, though one would think you'd be watching the one in red, just sayin dude" Mikey says mockingly. Raph growls at him and Mikey hides behind Leo.

"Shuddup Mike shit like that ain't gonna happen" he says simply, walking on, but taking one last glance over his shoulder at the girls as they got into the cab and head toward downtown. Raph starts to run and the others soon join him.

**_~* In zee Cab, Twenty Minutes Later*~_**

"So then I look up at him and he has these epically bright blue eyes!" Elizabeth says dreamily, telling Leea and Breanna about the dream she had at the airport. Breanna nudges her with her elbow,

"Oooo someone's got a dream crush!" she says laughing, Leea smiles and rolls her eyes as the cab comes to a stop in front of a building with a long line of people standing out front, causing the impatient woman to groan.

"I hate lines" she mumbles under her breath impatiently, Breanna laughs, stepping out of the cab after she pays the driver.

"Good thing we won't be waiting long then my friends" she says, pulling Elizabeth out the door of the cab. Frankie steps out the other side and walks around to where Breanna is dragging Elizabeth to the front of the line with Leeann in tow.

The strawberry blonde smiles sweetly at the bouncer and he grins, opening the door for the trio of women, making those in the line protest loudly or just roll their eyes.

As they step inside they're bombarded by music and the heat of hundreds of bodies mushing together. Breanna brings them to a table in the corner.

"I'm guessing you come here often?" Elizabeth shouts over the din of loud music. Breanna nods and grins.

"Yep! Every weekend if I can! Okay so here's the plan! We all split up and have some fun! Meet back here in an hour or so to check up!" she says excitedly and stands, not waiting for an answer, she heads toward the bar. The other girls sit there for a moment then Leea stands too.

"You gonna be okay on your own kiddo?" she asks Elizabeth warily, Elizabeth smiles and waves her off.

"I'll be fine, go have fun! Plus I'm going to wait till I see my blue eyed cutie!" she shouts happily and Leea nods, laughing, and walking out onto the dance floor.

**_~*The Turtles*~_**

"You sure this is a good idea" Don asks anxiously, clothed in a purple sweatshirt and jeans, like his brothers who wore sweatshirts the colors of their masks so as to tell one another apart in the crowded bar and club,all of them wearing loose blue jeans.

Raph is busily trying to pick the lock to the back door of the club and Mikey bounces on his toes excitedly, having been the one who ultimately convinced their fearless leader to take this chance. Leo puts a hand on Dons shoulder.

"Its fine don, we're ninja, if someone catches us we can just disappear" he says, sounding as though he were trying to convince himself as well. Raph finally opens the door and holds it for them as the loud music spreads out into the alley. They all file inside.

**_~*Leeann's POV*~_**

I was dancing in the middle of the crowd when I suddenly catch sight of a man leaning against the wall. He's surrounded on one side by three other men dressed similarly to him, in jeans and sweatshirts that shadow their faces.

He's staring intently at me and it stops me for a moment, my hazel eyes catching a pair of bright amber ones. I look away quickly, hoping to god that I'm not dancing to badly, and return to it. I flinch when a loud male voice speaks suddenly into my ear.

"hey sexy, wanna dance?" he asked as he grabs my hips and yanks me back to him, almost toppling me backwards, his breath smelling strongly of brandy and vodka.

I twist and try to step away but he holds on tightly, I lift my arm, careful not to hit any of the people crowded around us and elbow him as hard as I can in the chest. He stops moving but doesn't let go of me.

"No, actually I don't, so get off" I shout at him, more from the music than the fact that I'm now thouroughly irritated. He laughs and wraps his arms around my middle, holding on tighter than before.

I push against his arms and grit my teeth, finally hooking my hand under his arm and grabbing his _cohones_ I twist, causing him to let out a squeak of pain as he falls to his knees. I walk away, swiftly back to the table where Elizabeth looks bored out of her mind as a nerdy looking guy rambles on and on, I grab her arm and pull her up. She smiles a quiet but grateful thank you at me as the man looks at me rather accusingly, Liza's as promised blue eyed admirer, frowning in agitation.

"We were having a conversation" he says snobbily. I laugh, my voice unamused, still feeling sleezy from my experience out on the dance floor I grab our purses, having had enough of guys who thought they were better than us.

"A one sided one I'd bet, come on Liza lets go find bre" I say, pulling her with me. I look around and see her at the bar, swaying in her seat with a guy who had his hand a little too high up her thigh for my liking. I tilt my head in confusion and glare slightly, striding over there with Elizabeth and pinching the top of the guys hand, taking it off of Bre's thigh. He glares at me, yanking his hand out of my grip and rubbing it.

"Do I _know_ you?" he asks me. Bre turns toward me, her cloudy eyes alarming me along with her drunken swaying. She gets up and hugs me, leaning most of her weight on me as she does.

"hey Leester! Meet Daniel, he says he wants to take me to his place to show me his-" my eyes bug and I clap a hand over her mouth to stop her extremely slurred words. Daniel stands and makes to grab her arm but I pull her behind me, which would have been more effective had I been taller than 5'3. I saw the group of men from earlier standing at the end of the bar, drinks in hand and trying to pretend they weren't watching the events as they unfolded, or well, most of them, the one in red just blatantly stares and I have to avert my eyes.

"Liza hold onto Bre while me and Danny have a little chat" I say, grabbing Daniel by the front of his shirt as I pass him, pulling him away from Bre but also away from the men watching, wanting to keep this information between the sleezeball, my friends, and I, for Bre's sake. He grabs my hand and tries to twist it behind my back but I yank away.

"What did you give her? I know when someone's been drugged and she's showing every symptom, so I suggest if you want your nuts to stay intact with your body you'll start talking buster" I say threateningly, even though I know with my small stature it won't do much. He laughs but doesn't answer me or deny it, I'm about to ask again when I hear crying. I turn to see Bre crying into Elizabeth's shoulder and walk back to her.

"b-but I don't wanna go Lizzy" she says, I grab her arm gently, nodding for Elizabeth to do the same. I decide to just take her to a hospital and upon relaying this to Liza, we pull her toward the exit.

"Matt we're leaving!" I hear Daniel yell, I look back to find the guy I'd incapacitated on the dance floor, walking toward us along with Daniel.

"Ah shit... Liza we've gotta go!" I say, hurrying them out the door, before it closes I see a pair of amber eyes staring at me but right now I don't care, I turn us left and walk down the street until Bre starts to pass out, becoming too much for me and Liza to maneuver on our own. We turn into an alley and I sit her down, tapping her cheek to keep her awake.

"Come on Bre, stay with us" I say encouragingly as a couple of shadows fall in behind. I whip my head around to look and stand, already in boxing stance as I realized who it was.

Daniel and Matt glare at me as they enter the alley, cutting off the exit. I hear the girls shifting nervously and tighten my fists further, Liza dropping down to kneel beside Bre, Daniel chuckles.

"You really want to fight us little girl?" he asks, looking me over mockingly, I grit my teeth and lurch forward, sucker punching Daniel in jaw and dropping to sweep Matt off his feet. I twist up and get in my stance again.

"Liza, take Bre and get out of here!" I command my tone dead serious, Liza starts to protest but I just point at the nearest exit.

"oh, by the way, this little girls about to kick your ass" I say, grabbing a garbage can lid from beside me and flinging it into Matt's face, he shouts as it makes contact and I go straight for Daniel, trying to give Liza and Bre time to get away by giving these assholes something more prying to think about.

I roundhouse kick Daniel in the stomach but he come's back with a solid punch to my face, I stagger backward and he kicks me in the stomach before I can get my bearings, knocking all the air from my lungs. I fall to the ground, hitting my head hard on solid concrete, Matt kicks me soundly in the ribs, gasping as I feel and hear a faint crack, as I try to get back up, he kicks me again.

I get up to my hands and knees but someone from behind me wraps one arm around my neck and the other around my middle, pinning my arms to my sides and lifting me off the ground. I heard a solid thud behind us as I thrash, trying to regain some leverage. Matt grits and bares his teeth through the steady stream of blood running from his obviously broken nose and punches me hard in the sternum, pushing all the remaining air I had out of my lungs to speed up the choke hold I'm in.

"Bre get up! We've got to go!" I heard Liza say straining, then Matt disappears and a moment later I hear Liza scream bloody murder. I struggle harder, thrusting my weight forward and hoping to base my weight to throw him. I slow down as I start to see black and white spots dancing across my vision, I feel myself getting weaker and my ears ring obnoxiously. Suddenly I'm dropped like a hot potato, landing strangely on my ankle.

a large hand grabs my arm, wrenching me to my feet with a rib jarring yank and whoever it is shoves me behind them all before I've managed to pull in a single breathe. I cough and gasp, leaning against the persons back, clutching their red sweatshirt in my hands in order to stay on my feet and get air back into my lungs, my rib cage hurts like hell and I realize that I don't hear fighting anymore just silence. I back up unsteadily and glare at the one who stands like a barricade in front of me.

"I could have taken them.." I speak my thoughts out loud, blushing with embarrassment at having to be saved along with having been clinging to them a moment before. I cross my arms over my chest and quickly uncross them due to the stinging pain it causes. I feel my head getting lighter and reach an arm behind me, bracing myself against the wall.

I look at Bre who was now being held bridal style by a tall boy with a blue sweatshirt on, his hood had fallen off and his face looks… different….. in the darkened alley. She holds onto him and giggles.

"Good job you Kung fu frogs you!" she says, poking him in the chest right before passing out.

The one in red turns and glares at me.

"_What_?" I snap when he'd been staring at me for a few minutes, he growls a little.

"You could at least say thanks!" he says, moving to stand in front of me, yanking his hood off, revealing another face unlike any I've ever seen. I inspect his features for a moment and realize that they remind me of my little brothers pet tortious. I hold back a wince as the muscles over my ribs tighten painfully.

"_Thanks_?! Listen'ere buster, I was doin' just fine till you guys showed up!" I say frustrated. He narrows his amber eyes at me, A little ways away I see Liza faint and the turtle in orange catch her. I push myself off the wall with a wince and start toward the others.

"Listen _dollface_, if I hadn't of come along then ya might as well be unconscious from oxygen deprivation! Face it, ya would have gotten your ass kicked if I hadn't'a came and protected ya" the red turtle says behind me, I cringe at the sickeningly intimate pet name. The orange masked turtle boy snickers

"Ooo big word Raphie" he said, the one named Raphie tosses a venomous glare at him.

"Do _not_ call me dollface buster! And for the record, I don't need your protection" I say as he looks me over, smirking.

"What? Ya don't like to be called dollface? How about shortstop or tiny? Or maybe little blue?" he says smugly, I round on him, my patience for the night finally spent.

"_that's_ _it_!" I shout enunciating both words and launch at him but the guy in purple grabs me by the arms and pulls me back, jarring my ribs in the process. I gasp as a sheet of white blankets my vision for only a second and I wrap my arms around my ribs as pain rips through me. The one who'd stopped me from launching at Raphie helps me sit down and huffs at his red compatriot.

"Raph, why's it you always have to get into fights with people?!" the one in purple says, leaving a hand on my shoulder as he kneels down and puts a finger on my ribs, applying a little pressure.

"does that hurt?" he asks, I grit my teeth and push his hand away, trying to stand up.

"We should probably get moving, They'll no doubt bring back up" The turtle in blue orders, his tone serious. He must be the one in charge.

"Wait, we're bringin'em with us?" Raphie questions angrily, Orange fist pumping awkwardly because of the girl he has piggy back style on his back.

"Well we can't just leave them here to fight the Purple Dragons on their own Raph now can we?" Blue tells Raphie exasperatedly, starting toward the middle of the alley. I contemplate arguing but I figure that if they wanted to hurt us they would have done it already and there is no way in hell that I can handle any back up that's coming and get bre and Liza home safe by myself.

"Yeah whateva Leo" Raphie grumbles under his breathe, apparently having no adequate protest to this development. The turtle in purple stands from where he is in front of me and goes to where Leo now stands, kneeling and pulling a man hole cover off to the side with ease.

"So we're takin them to the Lair then?" He asks curiously, Leo nods and hands Breanna over to him as he jumps down into the hole.

"Yeah, I figure you can check them all out and then we can go from there Don" Leo's voice comes up through the hole and Don sits beside it. "Alright lower her down to me Donnie"

As this is happening Raphie grabs my arm and helps me up, a silent apology in my opinion, but leaves me to do my own walking after I wrench my arm away, letting Orange, Don and Raphie go down ahead of me. I help orange lower Liza down to Don and he smiles brightly.

"My names Michelangelo, but just call me Mikey" He tells me kindly, grabbing my hand and helping me down into the hole. I grit my teeth as my ankle protests each rung of the ladder.

"The names Leeann, it's nice to meet you Michelangelo" I say calmly, deciding to stay just a bit wary of these guys for now. After a second I feel hands wrap around my hips and lower me to the concrete below like I weigh nothing, setting me down away from the man hole opening as Michelangelo jumps down. I look to see Raphie standing quietly behind me but then stalking off after his brothers with Michelangelo and I in tow.

Ten minutes later we're walking through the sewers, well, I was limping and tripping over stuff half the time. I pull my arm out of someone's grasp and straighten up, just trying to focus on moving forward. After a few moments of silence, Donatello had started to interrogate me on the others symptoms as well as my own and started lumping me in the whole 'tend to wounds' thing too but I told him I was fine, Bre and Liza were more important right now. Tripping over something else, wrenches me out of my thoughts, and a hand catches my arm again, dragging me upright with one painful jerk.

"Are you sure you don't need help?" I hear someone ask me, all I can see is faint shapes in the darkened tunnels and I shake my head before I realize they probably can't see it.

"No I'm fine, my legs aren't broken" I say carefully since my ribs protest against any breathes that aren't shallow as hell. I wince as another breathe comes in too deep.

"But your ribs might be, and statistically speaking, walking will only aggravate the injury more, and it will most likely turn into a lot of pain" I can tell this was Don speaking because of his tone of voice.

"I've had worse than this" I say simply, walking on before one of them can ask just what worse was. I can't hold back a gasp when I breathe too deeply, jarring my ribs.

"Alright that's it, I ain't goin to watch you try ta act tough" the gruff Brooklyn accent speaks somewhere to my left. I gasp and try to step away but Raphie catches me up in his arms and starts to carry me bridal style down the tunnel.

I put my hands on his chest and push away, blushing profusely and hoping to god he can't see it, I hate being carried it makes me feel fragile, dainty, girly, just ugh. He adjusts his arms so his left curls around my waist and holds me firmly to him while his right holds up my legs.

"Put me down! I can walk just fine" I retort in frustration, He growls in a non-spoken dismissal of my order, and I get the sense that its useless to try to argue with him and reluctantly stop struggling.

The rest of the trip is silent except for the sound of Bre and Liza's steady breathing. I felt awkward, I have my hands in my lap to try to combat the awkwardness I feel and my head starts to spin a little again like earlier, I chalk it down to coming down from the adrenaline rush. Or maybe the concrete making contact with the side of my face.

Suddenly before I can catch it I feel myself swaying dizzily and upon feeling myself list to the side dangerously far I quickly put my arms around Raphie's neck to steady myself, he flinches and I feet the skin on his neck start to heat up. I look at him curiously, though through the darkness I can't truly see him only his figure. Just then he turns his head to return my gaze and those same amber eyes seem to glow back at me through the pitch black.

my eyes widen a little and I quickly avert my eyes, embarrassed at being caught staring my face darkens an entire shade of red. I see him look away out of the corner of my eye and he quickens his pace.

I try to shut out the weird tingly feeling in my cheeks and instead focus on making an inventory of my injuries.

_The barest wet streak on my cheek indicates a cut somewhere on my cheek and the soreness around the left side of my face and around my eye signifies the birth of a shiner and some no doubt, rather noticeable bruising, my ribs have begun a constant song of sharp pains, and my ankle feels like someone took a hammer to it, My head on the other hand feels like I'm wading through a blissful field of cotton balls. Fucking great way to end our first day in New York_

All of a sudden I realize that Raphie has stopped walking, looking to the front of us just as a door opens and a light assaults my eyes, I shut them quickly and turn my head into the space between Raphie's neck and shoulder to shield my eyes against the sudden jab of pain like a shard of glass passing through my head at the lights arrival and hold on tighter to Raphie. Raphie jerks at the sudden closeness and moves into the room, lowering me quickly onto what feels like an armchair and I immediately regret his rash actions as a flash of dizziness hit me. I lean forward and place my throbbing head in my hands, trying to ebb the wave of nausea that comes with it, my eyes still shut tight against the light.

I hear a slight shuffling of cloth and a creak of couch springs, a small hand laying itself on my head. I look up carefully, opening my eyes gradually and forcing them to get used to the new light as I take in the individual touching my head along with our surroundings, my jaw drops at seeing a rat wearing a Japanese style robe and carrying a walking stick.

"_Great_, am I hallucinating now?.." I ask unsure considering what's happened in the last half hour.

I look around seeing a huge room, I see a kitchen through an open door , a living room, a door opened up to a room that, from what I could see from here, had a metal cot and some first aid supplies. There is a second floor with a total of ten subway style doors and one on the first floor that's closed and I figure from how some doors looked more used then others that not a lot of people are staying down here. I direct my gaze back to the rat as my dizziness subsides and my vision blurs a little, I shake my head to clear it, and the rat shakes his head.

"You are not hallucinating miss, but I do think it would be best for you to allow my son Donatello to examine your injury's" he says, his voice holds a distinctly Japanese accent, making him sound extremely wise. I find it relaxing, but I shake my head at what this relaxing voice is telling me, nodding to where Breanna lay on the couch and Liza is being covered by a blanket in an armchair across from me by the orange masked turtle.

"Their more important right now, take care'a them first" I say quietly and the rat stands there and stares for a moment a look of curiosity on his face that I just barely catch as I put my head back in between my knees.

"Donatello tend the other girls, my sons do as Donatello commands. Miss, if you can I would like you to come with me" he says, calmly turning and walking away, not looking back to see if I follow.

I get up uneasily and limp after him, pretending that I don't feel the heat of multiple eyes boring into my back as I go. Upon reaching the Chinese mache style door the rat stops and opens it for me, prompting me to step inside. He follows me in and closes the door behind us, walking around me and settling himself onto a pillow.

I kneel as well, taking the hint from the oriental feel of room but I practically fall on the way down due to my ankle twisting in on itself without warning. I grimace but withhold the groan and take a deep breath and look at the rat, whose watching me just as curiously as I am him.

"What is your name little one?" he asks after a moments silence.

"Leeanna Kathleen Baker" I answer giving him my full name, simply because I feel I should. He nods simply and smiles a little bit at how stiff I've become.

"So Leeanna I can tell that you are in pain, yet you put your friends wellbeing before your own. This is honorable and not something seen commonly" he says as though picking apart personalities is what he does normally. I set my hands on my knees, breathing slowly to manage the dizziness.

"I'm not important right now" I say calmly, residing to speak as though I weren't speaking to a total stranger. This thought practically catapulting the fact that I'd seen five mutants tonight and not once till now wondered who they were or where they came from, or even more specifically how. "Besides, just because people don't do it normally don't mean you shouldn't or it isn't the right thing to do"

"My name is Splinter, and I am sure that you are probably wondering how we came to be" he says as if reading my thoughts. I nod, concealing my wonder at how he knew and he launches into their entire background story. I sit in stunned silence the entire time as I listen to everything they've been through and everything that had to do with their beginning and when he finishes I pull my dress further down my legs with a deep exhale of breathe.

"The question now is, will you and your friends keep our existence a secret" he lets the weight of his words drop onto my shoulders and without hesitation I nod. His eyes widen in surprise at the quickness of my decision.

"Your sons saved our life's Splinter, it's the _least_ we could do" I say with finality as I begin to hear more talking in the living, specifically more womens voices. Another jab of pain assaults my ribs as I twisted around and I placed a hand on the protesting cage.

"I suggest you allow my son to tend to your wounds Miss Baker" he say formally, I shake my head.

"Call me Leea and no thank you, I'll be fine" I say avoiding saying my usually casual - _I've had worse_-, knowing what would happen if I say it. I stand, leaning all of my weight on my good ankle and gesture to the door.

"Shall we?" I say, suppressing a wince, Splinter raises an eyebrow and stands but before I can get the door for him he grabs my wrist and gently pulls it from the handle.

Upon receiving a curious look from me he gives me a slightly amused glint and raises his walking stick, whacking the door with it. The response to which is a two person chorus of Ow.

I open the door to find Michelangelo and Liza standing there, a hand to her forehead and Michelangelo with a slightly pouty look on his face, she's wearing an orange t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants rolled up around her ankles.

I sigh and grab Liza's arm, pulling her gently to the couch which Bre lies on still asleep and have her sit her down. As soon as Liza looks at me she gasps, speaking in a flurry of words as I bring her to the couch.

"Holy cow! Are you okay?!" she asks me worriedly, I tilt my head a little in confusion at the amount of worry in her tone and she picks up her handbag, which sits just next to my bag and Bre's they must have went back to the club and grabbed our things for us, rummaging through it and producing a compact mirror, shoving it in my hands.

I almost don't recognize myself for the major bruising developing on the left side of my face and the impression around the still bleeding gash on my cheekbone makes me realize that Matt must have had on brass knuckles. The area around my eyes has turned a dark purple, standing out against my greenish blue eyes. I groan at the unwelcome thought and wince a little as my ribs protest the sound, flinching and reaching arm across my rib cage subconsciously. Liza grabs my shoulder and I look at her, and as I see her face I know what she's going to do.

"No" I say simply, she groans at my reaction, probably knowing I caught her thought process.

"Let Donnie check you over Leea! Your hurt!" she says pleadingly, her doe like brown eyes seeming to get even larger, I shake my head.

"No Liza, You and Bre needs help a hell of a lot more then I do" I say, looking over my shoulder at Bre who's now giggling in her sleep.

"Go unicorns go! Be free…" she says, just above a whisper. I raise an eyebrow at that and Liza snaps her fingers, bringing my attention back to her.

"Donnie says he can't evaluate her until she wakes up anyways, please let him check you out!" she says all puppy dog eyed, the raise eyebrow still remains.

"Alright, one the puppy dog look doesn't work on me and two then I'll just wait, besides you know that I can check myself over " I reply with a calm tone, my voice dropping a little as I near the end of my sentence.

"I know you can but still.. If you don't get checked now and your ribs are cracked like Donnie thinks they are than you could seriously hurt yourself!" she says the puppy eyes going away replaced by a look of seriousness I've only seen once on Skype when I'd told her that I thought my arm was broken and had refused to go to the hospital.

I roll my eyes and am about to say that I'd be fine when a large hand drops onto my shoulder and I jump, holding back another wince with effort. I look over my shoulder to find Leonardo standing over me.

"My brother can check you over now" he says, smiling convincingly at me, I shake my head and he blinks in confusion.

"I'm okay." I say in a not so silent dismissal of the subject, at that moment I realize that I've been hearing a calming repetition of solid punches against clothe. Which is probably why I haven't lost it worrying about Bre and Liza or started pacing like I usually would.

I look for the source of the sound and my gaze lands on Raphael throwing punches at a bag near a solid looking oak door. I watch as he executes a one two punch and a round house kick into the bag, making it sway back and forth like a pendulum.

In my wide eyed shock I'm reminded of a comment my boxing trainer made years ago about how strong you had to be to make a bag swing like that. I watch curiously as the bag finishes its wayward rotations and comes back to him, wondering what he'll do. I half expect him to stop the bag like any normal boxer would but instead he slams his fist into it, pushing it back into its frenzied circles once more. Liza snaps her fingers, pulling my attention away once again.

"Let them check you out damnit!" she says in frustration I realize that she's been talking to me and I didn't even hear her speaking. I look at her surprised, I've never heard her swear before except when she's extremely adamant or angry about something. I sigh and stand, leaning all my weight on my right leg, Leonardo notices and grabs my arm gently.

"Fine, but while I'm in there check Bre's eyes with the flash light in my bag okay? If they dilate then there's still a short list of drugs that Daniel could have used, if they don't then that narrows our list too." I say, trying not to limp as I walk around the couch, upon failing at shaking Leonardo's hand off my arm I set aside my pride and let him help me walk.

I glance to where Raphael had been when I hear the punches stop and see him watching me, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, he must have noticed me staring because his eyes are smug and the smirk on his face telling exactly of his cocky demeanor. I turn my head quickly and walk into the infirmary looking room I had seen earlier, carefully guarding my features to hide the embarrassed warmth I feel in my face.

**_~*Breanna's POV, Twenty Minutes Later*~_**

I feel a pull on my eyelids, and suddenly a bright light shines in, I swat at it drunkenly and hear a small squeak of surprise as I squinch my eyes shut against the highly offensive light.

"You're awake! That's great! How do you feel?" I hear Elizabeth ask me and right now I don't know how to answer that question. I feel like a hundred nails have been driven into my skull, and my stomach tightens as fuzzy memories fight their way back.

I try to sit up, and meet a hand on my shoulder, pushing me back down again. I open my eyes again, this time more slowly when a male voice registers in my fuzzed out brain, looking around and see Elizabeth sitting on the edge of a red worn out couch.

The hand on my shoulder is connected to an orange masked turtle and I nearly pass out again. I push his hand away and sit up, ignoring my stomach as it rolls with the nausea, What I see shocks me, this place is huge. I look around the room and notice two other masked turtles not counting the one in orange and a robed rat staring at me. I feel a hand touch my arm and turn to face Elizabeth, but then I remember the fight and realize that Leea's missing from the bunch along with one of the other turtles.

"Where's Leeann? Wait weren't there four of you?" I ask pretty much slurring my words, I look Elizabeth over and see she's wearing pajama pants and an orange shirt that's way too big for her, The orange masked turtle pops up in front of me again.

"Oh is that the other girl's name? Oh well she's getting checked out by Donnie, boy did she take a beating! By the way Master Splinter, can we keep them?" he asks excitedly, I get the feeling he ran his mouth a lot but was generally a good guy. The turtle in red grabs him by his mask tails and drags him away with a sigh of annoyance as what he'd said sunk in.

"Wait what? Where's Leeann?!" I ask, my head progressively getting clearer, I hear the sound of a door opening and turn around to find Leeanna limping toward the couch, a distraught looking turtle in purple coming out the door after her.

She looks horrible, well at least physically emotionally she looks fine except for the occasional wince, nearly the whole left side of her face is bruised purple and there is a piece of gauze on her cheek. She's wearing a pair of grey sweatpants rolled up around her ankles and a white T-shirt that's big enough that the other part slips partially over her shoulder, her curly thick hair is out of its braid and down around her shoulders as she slowly makes her way toward the couch.

"I'm right here Bre relax, oh and by the way I didn't take a beating Michelangelo, I got into a fight which I was handling just fine" she says glaring at the orange masked turtle that's now trapped in a headlock by the one in red who stops momentarily as she exit's the other room but then continues torturing the one in orange whom I assume is Michelangelo. The turtle in purple grabs her arm but she pulls it away, giving him a scalding look that he comes close to flinching away from but doesn't.

"You shouldn't be walking around Leeanna! You've likely got cracked ribs and a definitively twisted ankle! Along with a head injury! If you won't lie down like I said before than you should at least use the crutches until I can find a way to properly diagnose your injuries" he says sounding like one of those doctors that take their job really seriously, She sighs.

"I'm fine! I'm not taking crutches so leave it alone, okay Don?" she says limping the rest of the way to the couch and sitting down with a slightly withheld wince, I frown at her.

"How bad?" I ask her, her responding by rolling her eyes, me knowing she won't lie to us she groans, looking at me.

"Bad but don't worry about it" she says with a slight laugh, I can always tell when shes hiding something or when something bads happened and she doesn't want to tell you. I know she won't tell me anymore than that though that doesn't exactly reassure me any. I turn away from Leea as the rat begins to speak.

"You should allow Donatello to tend your wounds more thoroughly Miss Baker," he says, a Japanese accent sticking out in his weathered voice, just as this thought passes my mind he looks at me.

"As for you Miss Duncan it would be best if my sons escorted you home to rest" he says, smiling kindly at me. I glance at Leeanna and Elizabeth, still feeling slightly foggy.

"Sounds like a plan," I hear Leeann say as a strange ringing sound assaults my ears, I look at Leea and wait for her reaction to the sound, but when I see none I look to Elizabeth, getting the same result.

I frown a little and try to stand to look for the source, dizziness gripping me the second I'm upright. The blue masked turtle grabs my arm just as I start to sway and I fall against him.

Leea tries to stand again, a worried look on her face as she looks me over but a green three fingered hand shoots out and pushes her back down onto the couch, she turns and glared at the red masked turtle but stays where she is.

"You okay Bre?" Elizabeth asks me, I nod and with the blue masked turtles help I stand up straighter.

"I'm peachy Lizzie!" I say, smiling reassuringly, she returns the smile in all of her overly hyper happiness and Leeann gives me a relaxed half smile, the turtle in red blinks looking a little surprised by her sudden change of emotion. He then retracts his hand and stalks into another room, Leea watching him go just for an instant but then quickly looking away.

"I believe it prudent to escort Miss Breanna home and to allow Elizabeth and Leeanna to remain here for the night" The rat stands, giving the now open mouthed to protest turtle in blue a wave of dismissal " Leonardo you will stay at her home tonight to ensure her safety" He says simply, Leonardo's mouth shuts with a curious looking click and he bows then starts to lead me toward the giant door.

As we're turning left into the dark tunnel I hear the happy go lucky Turtle's voice pitch in and suggest a scary movie marathon. In response to which I hear Lizzie clap in excitement and start begging Leeann to stay up to watch with them since Don wants her awake for a while anyway. Leonardo closes the sewer wall door before I hear her answer btu I know what she's said, she may act like a hard head but she's a softie when it comes to Lizzie or kids for the most part.

"So now that we've got some time do you mind explaining everything that's happened? I don't remember much" I ask him curiously, leaning on him heavily. He chuckles and nods.

"I'll explain everything on the way" he says helpfully, I nod as he grab's my arm and puts it over his shoulder when I stumble again, I have to wonder at all this though.

_"What have we gotten ourselves into?"_

**_I hope you liked it! R&R Please! :D_**


	4. BTY Chapter 4

**Hey everyone! I've got what you've all been waiting for but first I'd like to thank the following along with anyone who's read this story and is not listed!**

**Thank you to**

_**Kellyeliz**_

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_**AATC and TMNT rocks**_

_**Bellarella**_

_**CreationImagination**_

_**Jazz Is My Lil Ninja**_

_**SaphireDragonHuntress**_

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_**TubeChick101**_

_**antaurilover685**_

_**melovebutch**_

_**rinplup14**_

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_**Kyralia31**_

**and**

_**Doubledoublethiswriteristroubl**_

**i just want to say how much it means to me that you've all been stayingtuned and haven't all decided to attack me with pitcchforks yet lol thanks also to anyone whose been reading in but hasn't been named and lets get on with the show!**

**Oh yeah! I've been PMed a few times and asked for more action scenes so I think y'all will like this addition to**

**Bound To You**

Enjoy my beautiful readers!

Dictionary Moment=

Hagimet: Engage

**~*Donny's POV*~.**

In a few short minutes the three girls are lead into the dojo for their assessment, I'm slightly worried for Leeanna given her condition but I know now that waiting for her to heal to begin training now that the PD's have somehow acquired a means of finding them would be suicide. Though I want to watch the assessment to make sure she and the other girls injuries will not be aggravated I know that unless it spills into our view that, traditionally, we are not allowed to watch.

And so the rest of us wait patiently, and impatiently in three cases, in the living room and the kitchen. Raph sits down on the couch next to Mike and picks up the remote, flicking on the TV in a vain attempt to block out the deafening silence, which for once Mike isn't trying to combat.

He doesn't even watch TV, Instead he stares unabashedly at the dojo doors. Leo's gone into the kitchen to make tea, soon I know we'll be able to tell his mood even if his stoic and controlled demeanor tries it's best to thwart our efforts. For he always brews Chamomile for anger, Ginseng for restlessness, Green Tea for energy, Lemon for when he's in a good mood and cinnamon for when he isn't.

Now that I think about it those teas are really the only types he drinks, I'm still pondering why this is as April walks over to me with Owen in her arms and I sit up more as she settles in my lap.

Owen plays with her hair and I smile at my unofficial wife and our son, placing a hand on the small of Aprils back, I kiss her cheek and rest my other hand on top of Owens head lovingly, whispering to the both of them that I love them in a tone the others can't hear.

After five minutes of hearing faint fighting from the dojo there's a rather loud shout and everyone jumps, looking for the cause just as the doors to the dojo burst open and Leeanna comes flying out, rolling as she lands and skidding a little before coming to a stop. She pushes herself to her feet, a small whimper that I have no doubt is involuntary escaping her as she does.

"As long as you are able to stand you will fight to prove your ability" I hear Father say reminding her, She puts her fists up in front of her face in time to block a punch from Father as he runs from the dojo straight at her, grabbing Fathers fist she shoves him back a step, creating an opening in his midsection which she sees and takes without hesitation.

Joey barks and lunges toward the duelers, Raph jumping over the back of the couch and grabbing his collar before he can reach them.

I see Raph's stony expression and I know he doesn't approve of the assessment either but I can't for the life of me put my finger on the reason why, he's always loved watching people fight, especially when they're as he puts it _'gettin their ass kicked by splinter'_. Leo comes out of the kitchen with his lemon tea and the girls come out of the dojo to watch.

"Good luck keepin' me down Sensei, I've been told I'm as stubborn as a pissed off mule" She says proudly, nodding in Bre's direction who shakes her head, a little smile on her face. Father smiles, blocking a one two punch combination.

"You box yes?" He asks her, a smirk forming on her bruised face. Suddenly she drops, sweeping her leg at Fathers attempting to kick his feet out from under him, yet failing, she stands, bringing her fists up again.

"Yes, Yes I do. Why do you ask?" She says simply, curiosity taking over, she tilts her head slightly. I smile a little bit, knowing from Master Splinters expression that the assessment is over and he's seen all he needs too.

"I only ask because you pay a remarkable amount of attention to the detailed muscle movements of your opponent, so much in fact that you know when they will strike, how they will strike, and possibly where they will strike by knowing the language of their body, but what will happen when your opponent uses an object instead of a muscle? Therefore doing something you cannot foresee?" Father says, He then begins a flurry of kicks that narrowly miss her head each time but force her to back up until shes about two feet from the wall.

Then quick as lightning he pulls six kunai from the pocket of his robe with one hand and one more from another and throws them at her, pinning her upper body to the door with her shirt, two at her sides, two at her shoulders, and another two holding her sleeve to the door at her forearm.

Father lunges then, holding the extra kunai to her jugular " You fight well with your body but you do not know how to fight well with or defend yourself with a weapon or against one. You will work on these shortcomings through your training, otherwise you fought well"

"Th-Thanks.. I get the jist, good with fists bad with weapons, got it, c-can you get that away from my throat now please" She says, her voice sounding as though her throat were drier then the Sahara. She looks as though she were trying desperately to keep her emotions in check and I immediately make a note of her behavior in my mind.

Father steps back taking the kunai from her throat and removing the others quickly. His expression tells me he's noticed the same thing I did but he doesn't say anything about it. She takes a controlled breath in as Father walks back to the dojo, motioning for the rest of us to follow. Mikey jumps up excitedly from the couch, going straight to Elizabeth and smiling happily at being able to watch. Leo setting his mug on a coaster on the table and following suit.

April stands with Owen on her hip as everyone walks toward the dojo, Joey going to Leeanna as soon as Raph has released him and sniffing gently before going back to the couch to lay down.

We enter the dojo in single file, bowing as we do. Leeanna comes in as well as we all kneel on the far left side of the room, she takes a deep breath and straightens from her bow, coming to kneel between April and I who still holds Owen.

Bre and Liz kneel on the other side of the room, having not yet had their assessment's and looking anxious as Father snaps up his walking stick with his tail. I think back to the day that April did her assessment, remembering how angry I was when it ended with her unconscious.

Father paces back and forth across the floor, stroking his beard, this lasts five minutes but suddenly he stops and flicks the tip of the walking stick so it points directly at Liz.

"Stand Miss Duncan" He says kindly, backing up so she can stand and walk into the middle of the room, Mikey silently waves his arms wildly above his head until he looks at her and he gives her an encouraging thumbs up, causing her to smile back at him.

She looks back at Father just as he throws a punch her way, ducking she grabs his arm, pulling him off balance. For a moment Liz and Father do nothing but stand there, then she lets go and he strikes again. She dodges just barely, Fathers hand shifting a piece of her dark red hair.

"It is evident you know much of the art of Ju Jitsu yet you wait for your opponent to make his move when you should be taking the opportunity to strike and gain the upper hand" He strikes again, this time without holding back his speed and she eeps, catching his paw and flipping him over her shoulder on what appears to be instinct.

Father lands on his feet and twists her arm so she goes to her knees on the mat "you must learn to be impulsive with your attacks, you must also work on your speed if you are too gain confidence in battle" He admonishes, knowing she's beaten.

"Yes master" She says, slightly strained by her position, he lets her up then and she rubs her shoulder absently before bowing to him, a fist against her open palm. She turns then and Mikey pats the spot beside him, giving her a comforting smile as she sits down.

She returns the smile brightly and they turn to where Bre has gotten up off her knees and is in position before Father. She looks hesitantly at him as she stands there.

"I don't want to hurt you Master Splinter.." She says, Father chuckles warmly and shakes his head.

"You will not child, now _hagimet_!" He replies kindly, Bre still looks hesitant to attack even as Father begins his assault. He throws punches and kicks her way, forcing her to dodge constantly, her expression reading as uncomfortable. I see father's expression change to his _what if i did this_ expression when it appears that she still feels uncomfortable with hitting him. Suddenly he leaves an opening on his side and Bre's face turns slightly more focused and she twists, kicking him soundly in the side, causing him to almost fall over.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay Master? I didn't mean t-" She begins reaching over to balance him, I wince when she's cut off by Father grabbing her arm and throwing her over his shoulder similar to the way Liz did to him. I can almost hear the air whooshing out of her lungs from the impact and she coughs and sputters for a moment as he puts a foot down on her chest to stop her from getting up.

"Your compassion is admirable, and you seem to have an instinct of what to do in a sparring match to gain the advantage, but in a battle you must save mercy for last or your opponent will take advantage of it" He says, removing his foot and allowing her to stand. Bre smiles a little, her breathes a bit heavy as she bows her head to him before coming to kneel between Leo and I.

I glance over and find that Owen is now in Leea's arms, laughing happily as he tugs on her hair, she doesn't seem to mind it though since she's laughing along with him. She pokes Owen in the stomach and he squeals happily, smiling April smooth's down Owens fringe of brown hair. All at once Father comes to stand before us, one hand behind his back and the other holding his walking stick in a vise like grip.

"I have decided who I will allow to train the three of you based on, what I believe to be, the skills you have and the skills that the three of you could teach your partner" He says, glancing over us until his gaze reaches Mikey.

"Michelangelo, you have speed, agility, and you also have the impulse to strike first, yet like your older brother you also lack the calm it takes to formulate a strategy, Ju Jitsu requires an understanding of the body's motions and how to manipulate the joints to better propel a strike in a way to hit harder but for this you must think of strategy to know what your opponent will do in order for your strike to work effectively, for this reason I have paired you with Miss Elizabeth Duncan" He says, causing mike's face to split into a grin, Liz turns to him and they give each other a loud high five, Father clears his throat meaningfully and Mike turns back to him.

"Oh! Hai Sensei!" He says happily, unable to suppress the grin on his face. Father turns to Raphael who stiffens a little under our father's scrutiny.

"Raphael, you have prowess in weapons skills and hand to hand combat, but you lack the will to first think of strategy to put those skills to their proper use, you prefer to strike first and strike hard as opposed to thinking of a plan. Boxing requires calculation of your opponents strength and the likely strikes that they will use against you, which in turn requires the ability to form a strategy or plan of action and reaction before striking, because of this I have decided to pair you with Miss Baker"

At this Raph looks like he might argue but doesn't

"Hai Sensei" He says simply, his voice terse. Frankie nods looking a bit tense herself and Father turns to Leo, whose expression is slightly stoic.

"Leonardo, you have the leadership skills and the ferocity it takes to lead others into battle, you have skills in combat, weaponry, and mental strength to adapt in battle yet I fear as you grow more powerful you are beginning to forget to show mercy, For this reason I have paired you with Miss Collins for while you show little mercy, she shows too much. I feel you will learn much from one another in the times to come, whatever lessons you discover I urge you to take them seriously" He says, sounding serene as he places a hand on Leo's shoulder.

"Hai Sensei" He says, frowning at Father's assessment.

"My sons, having a disciple and being a disciple are two very different things. You must know each other's movement's better then you must know your own, You must also know each other's minds better than anyone they have ever and will ever meet" Father says, His tone solemn. I reach over and take Aprils hand in mine behind Leea as I think of the process it took to learn everything about each other.

"Hai Sensei" My three brothers respond in unison, Father turns to April and I.

"They will begin their training now, you and April will leave during their session and return when they are finished. My sons, you will begin with teaching strictly defensive attacks."

"Hai Sensei" We all say in unison, He nods and we are dismissed. Father goes into his room to meditate and Leeanna sits with a sleeping Owen in her arms. She smiles at him as he holds her finger, his breathing pattern even. Raph stands then and stares at her for a minute, his eyes softening for a moment but then going back to their usual hard glare, which perks my interest in any case, but then Raph walks over to Leea and grabs her upper arms gently, pulling her swiftly to her feet while managing to not wake Owen in the process.

"Follow me, we're goin for a ride" He says stiffly, I shake my head as the others go to different parts of the dojo.

"No Raph, she needs to take it easy" I say, Leeann throws me a disapproving stare and Raph gives me a curt glare, taking Owen gently from her arms gingerly and handing him to April, Surprisingly, again without waking him.

"If she can distract Purple Dragon's with bruised ribs and a twisted ankle she can take my training methods" He says, pulling Leeanna out of the dojo by the wrist without a single glance behind, causing her to roll her eyes. I shake my head with a sigh and April kisses my cheek.

"I'm going to go put him down before he wakes up again" She whispers to me, I smile and turn to her, kissing Owens head and hers.

"Alright, I'll be in the lab when you get back" I look around. Leo is already teaching Bre how to escape a choke hold and Mikey is showing Liz pressure points. I turn back to April and Owen, placing a hand on her cheek, I kiss her gently. "I love you"

"I love you too" She says softly, returning the kiss and leaving the dojo. I follow a moment after, going straight to the lab.


	5. BTY Chapter 5

**~*Breanna's POV 5 hours later*~**

"Okay, So after I twist I grab your wrist and-" I grab Leo's hand off my shoulder, turning it quickly, I kick him in the ankle to throw him off balance just enough for me to kick him in the chest and push him over, He lays on the floor coughing.

"Y-Yeah just like that" He pushes himself up on his elbows, once he catches my eye he shakes his head "Don't apologize either I can tell your about to by the look in your eye!" He says, pointing at me non accusingly, I'm about to deny it when I hear the elevator door ding open and with it voices shouting at each other.

"I'm just saying that next time you dig up a plan to use me as a bait or a distraction whichever the hell it is, don't leave _me_ out of it!" I hear Leeann yell from the living room.

"First off, Ya weren't bait! You were a distraction! Besides if that ass in a hockey mask hadn't have gotten in my way it would have gone off without a hitch!" Raph yells back at her, I walk to the door and slowly crack it open. I see Leea and Raph standing in the living room, Raph with his arms over his sweatshirt covered chest with jeans and boots and Leeann with a happy go lucky puppy sitting practically on her feet, her arms crossed over her chest like a frustrated mother. She looks the same as when she left except for an overly large black leather jacket and being soaking wet, her face tilts little in a _'Hmm guess what'_ kind of way.

"You say that like you'd told me the plan _before_ you left me alone on a dock with four drunk bastards" Her tone feigns serenity and I know she's either going to start really sticking it to him or she's going to walk away and fume but I think everyone knows by now that Leea doesn't back down from a fight unless it's with family.

"I said the code words we use on Mike! Ya can't tell me you didn't get an inkling of what I was doin' or did you get so caught up in savin' the puppy that you left some room in your head for stupid to get in along with stubborn" He says, his tone condescending. I cringe at the insult and shake my head as Leeanna shifts her weight to the left, a scalding look that basically has a voice of its own and shouts _'seriously'_ on her face.

"Don't you _ever_ talk to me like I'm stupid, moreover don't you _ever _straight out call me stupid again if _you_ know what's good for you." She glares at him harshly and he scoffs "Secondly, How am I supposed to know a code word that you made up with your brother long before you even _met_ me? You said bird in a cage and walked away! _I'm_ sorry your double meaning didn't work! _I'm_ sorry that while you were busy trying to do god knows what I was a little busy keeping four thugs from hacking off the ear of a defenseless puppy and trying to keep Casey from beating four Purple Dragons' to a pulp! _I'm_ sorry that while you were busy fighting with the guy that was attempting to take out Purple Dragon's, same as you I might add, that I was _freezing_ my ass off in the Hudson! _God_! I'm _so_ sorry that you even had to get paired with such a stubborn girl that's, as you so pleasantly put it earlier tonight, is going to be a bitch to train!" At this Raph looks shocked but Leeann just narrows her eyes at him, just barely masking the tremble in her voice that she gets whenever she truly upset "What? You didn't think I heard your little rant from underneath the dock? Geez If you thought that of me why didn't you just say it to my face instead of insulting me when you thought I'd ran away? Ugh I'm _done_, I'm going back to the dorms. When the girls wake up tell'em where I am"

"Wait!" Raph lunges forward and grabs the sleeve of her coat as shes walking away "look I'm sorry, I'm an ass, I shouldn't of said anythin' " He says apologetically, Leeanna's eyes widen a bit in surprise and so do mine.

"Uh.. n-no it's fine, I-I shouldn't have yelled at you in the first place" she says, looking only a bit like a more feminized version of herself because of the blush that now adorns her face.

" I um.. I'm goin ta bed.. Night.. I guess" I hear Raph say just before Leea snaps out of her blushing girly look and nods, clearing her throat as she starts to slip the jacket off her shoulders.

"Here you might want this back" she says, but Raph shakes his head and pulls the sleeve back over her shoulder.

"it gets cold here at night, ya goin to need it more then I will" Raph lingers a moment more before briskly walking away, as soon as he turns I see a bright red flush on his neck.

"huh" I say, blinking and crossing my arms, a thoughtful expression on my face as I take a step back, right into a rather hard chest.

I turn around to find Leo standing there, rather close to me actually. I laugh a bit from nerves as I automatically observe his position. He's not quite a foot taller than me but I still have to look up at him, he's got one arm against the door frame and is looking out the same slit I was. He's slightly bent over me and I feel my heart start to beat like a frantic hummingbird has taken its place. He looks down at me once he's realized that I turned around and I look up into his onyx colored eyes.

"Are you okay? Your face is red, are you tired?" he asks, confusion lacing his features. I stutter a bit, I suddenly notice that my hands are pressed against his plastron and I frantically ask myself how they'd gotten there as he continues. "If you are then we'll end your training for tonight and you can rest for tomorrow"

"O-okay" I respond simply, my brain trying rationalize this reaction to the turtle. Leo nods, giving me a tiny smile and opens the door, walking around and past me through it. Which leaves me with the only option left that will calm my nerves.

A distraction AKA a conversation.

I turn without looking at Lizzie and Mikey, where they sit beside each other just talking in the corner and go directly to where Leeann sits on the couch, stroking the puppy's head and looking like she might doze off I plop down next to her.

"Hey Leea! What happened in your training session?" I ask, desperately hoping she'll answer me. She jumps and flinches in pain, letting her head plop back against the top of the couch, unknowingly brandishing a new set of dark purple bruises settled over the upper part of her collarbone. She sighs, chuckling a bit.

"Training session? More like the vigilante mission from hell" She says with a slight laugh as she begins to explain.

**~* 5 hours earlier, Frankie's POV *~**

" You comin Doll? " Raph asks me without looking back, we'd just gotten off his motorcycle at a creepy looking warehouse. I'm still sitting on his bike the helmet that he forced me to wear still sitting awkwardly on my head due to being to large. I swing my leg over the side of the bike and stand, ignoring the soreness to my ribs as I reach up and pull the helmet off, glancing upwards at the darkened sky and the warehouse standing before us. Music and loud voices pouring from inside.

"Yeah Red I'm comin, by the way don't call me Doll " I say, beginning to hear dogs barking and immediately my instincts put two and two together.

" I'm goin round the back, you meet me there but go directly through and tell me what you see " Raph says, starting toward the door. I raise an eyebrow at him, highly suspicious of his methods all of a sudden.

"I don't mean to question your teaching methods but isn't that a bit dangerous? Won't someone notice I'm not like the rest?" I ask him as we near the door, he sighs and shakes his head.

"All the dopes in there're probably drunk off their asses by now so they ain't gonna notice a thing'less you make yerself noticeable, hmmm…" Raph's tone drops off as he admits this and he looks me over for a moment before jogging to the bike and back, holding a large leather jacket and throwing it to me. "Put that on an none o'those guys'll even know your there"

I nod a little bit and walk on, slipping the jacket on and pulling up the hood, the thought crossing my mind that the jacket reaching down almost to my knees might be a little noticeable but I bite my tongue on the words. I pause near the door, taking a deep breathe and trying to get rid of the nagging in my gut that this isn't going to end well, I step forward resting a hand on the doorknob,ready to turn it when Raph grabs my arm, pulling me back a step. He stands there awkwardly for a second, that same look in his eyes from when he had carried me into the hospital adorning his gaze. "Be careful, and try not to draw any attention. "

"Okay Red, Uhm.. you can let go of me now" I respond, raising an eyebrow at him when he continues to grip my elbow gently. He lets go then and I quickly walk toward the door, pulling it open as quietly as I can and step inside, my face completely hidden from view by the hood sewn into the jacket. "_Holy_ cluster fuck... "

I immediately see about fifty Purple Dragons standing around and cheering enthusiastically at some kind of ring in the middle of the room. I shudder at the sounds of dogs snarling and attacking each other and know exactly what's going on.

I begin to make my way to the other side of the room like I was told, seeing the back door situated exactly across the room from the door I've just entered. I remember what Raph said and quickly start my way across the warehouse, taking in the details of the room along with the number of affiliates, sticking close to the walls and shoving my hands into my pockets. I stop though when I hear a pained yelp from a room to my right and can't help but investigate.

I walk toward an office like room and lean against the door frame to listen in on the conversation within.

"Hold the damn thing still you bozo!" A man whose obviously drunk off his ass shouts, I hear another yelp this one sharper and then the snarling bark of a puppy. I hear the same man shout in anger and something crashes inside.

I immediately side step to look through the crack in the slightly ajar door, seeing a rather small white and tan pit bull pup, running around the room with blood on the side of her head. One man with no hair is bent over, holding his hand and the other is chasing the poor pup with a bloody pair of scissors.

Again my mind puts two and two together and the animal lover in me gets pissed. I kick the door open with my unbooted foot and everything stops inside the room.

Both men look at me and the pup sees her chance to escape and does, but then I feel her jump up on the back of my legs, desperately trying to claw her way up my legs so I bend down and scoop her up, never lowering my glare from the two assholes now staring at me like I'm a ghost.

"Who the fuck are you?!" The man with a bleeding hand shouts at me, jarring me out of my angered silence. I flick him off and grab the door handle, slamming it shut quickly as I look around the crowded room to be sure I hadn't attracted the wrong kind of attention. The puppy whimpers and burrows into my chest, rubbing her paw against her ear.

I see that no one has taken their eyes off the fight so I go the extra mile and jam the door with one of the folding chairs sitting at the edges of the room. As I turn to go I hear the rooms occupants pounding on the door and walk away as quickly as I can, feeling the rooms focus shifting as the pounding gets desperate. I feel confident with the drunken state of the crowd and know that they haven't yet figured out what's going on as I finally finish the walk to other side of the warehouse.

I open the back door quietly and quickly shut it, Officially shaking from the scene I'd witnessed with the pup who's now decided to lift her muzzle and lick my chin once, snuggling against my chest once more. I freeze in my tracks fear prickling my scalp as I smell the water and quickly realize we're on a harbor.

"Shit.." I say quietly to myself as I feel a large hand grab my arm, I turn and lift the opposite fist to deliver a punch but lower it once I see Raphael.

"So what did ya see?" he asks me impatiently, I start to explain what I've seen as I remove the jacket and hand it back to him. His eyes darting directly to my cargo He smacks his forehead and runs his hand down his face in exasperation. "Dammit, I shoulda known ya'd do somethin stupid"

"Excuse me? They were cutting her ears off! You tryin to tell me I shouldn't of saved her? Like you wouldn't have? I've seen you with Joey" I ask, glaring angrily. Raph looks like he might say something but stops suddenly and smirks, leaning forward so his head is directly beside mine.

"Bird in a cage" he whispers quietly, as the door to the warehouse behind me bangs open. I look toward it and then turn back to Raph to find him gone.

"_What_ in the _fuck_ was that supposed to mean?" I whisper to myself as I turn back to the four Purple Dragons's who're now circling me like sharks.

"I think you got somethin of ours sweetheart" The bald man from the room says to me as he steps up, getting uncomfortably close. He towers over me by at least a foot and a half and I quickly notice the bandage around his hand, stained red with blood from the puppies bite. His pals start to advance but I hold my ground and the pup starts to growl menacingly as they close the circle around me, I smile a little upon seeing the wound the pup gave him.

"She obviously doesn't think she belongs to you buster " I say, my tone cold. The bald man lifts his hand suddenly and cups the bottom of my chin, I try to jerk my face away but he tightens his grip.

"Who gives a shit, it's just a dumb animal" One of the other men says cutting off the ring leader. I hold the pup in one arm and knock the bald man's hand off my face as I turn and glare at him.

"I could say the same thing for you, 'cept that this pit is probably smarter then you'll ever be" I reply. I turn around and surprising them all as I shove through the group, I begin to walk away, thinking I might actually get away without having to fight. Then I feel a hand drop on my shoulder and whip around, bringing my free arm up to back hand the bald thug across the face. "_back_ _off_ or this is gonna get uglier than you already are "

"Why you little _bitch_" He says chuckling as his friends step toward me again, I hear the telltale sounds of police sirens and see people start to stream out the door I'd just vacated the warehouse from and spot Raph fighting in the fray, having just been watching Raph I just barely dodge when the bald man swings at me. I cradle the pup to my chest as I keep dodging, kicking one thug in the stomach as he comes at me from the side, thinking feverishly of a strategy to fight one handed.

I hear the roar of a motorcycle coming right up behind me and take a glance, seeing a hockey masked man stepping off an old beaten up Harley, only to be grabbed by baldy and yanked over to him by the front of my shirt as his friends bolt.

"Time ta bust some heads" the man on the cycle says as he swings off and chooses a baseball bat from a black bag attached to the side of his bike, his black hair falling just to his shoulders.

The pup wriggles in my arms and then jumps to the ground, running to hide behind a pile of nets. The bald guys hand moves from my shirt to my throat and I gasp as visions from the night we met the turtles flash in my sight.

"Alright you masked dope, drop it or her luck runs out" Baldy orders,even though I can tell he's just a bit nervous about the newcomer, The man in the hockey mask advances but slower now that he sees the situation.

"Aw come on now Henry, that's pretty low even fa you, usin another gang member as a hostage" he looks me up and down and I just _know_ that he's smirking behind that mask of his "_'specially_ one who looks that _good_"

"Back off alright? I ain't here to get hit on, and I'm especially not here as an affiliate " I say, finally gaining back my composure and grabbing the Baldys, or henrys rather, hand from my throat and twisting it harshly not giving him any warning. Hockey mask sees his opening and lunges, swinging his bat like a mad man and thwacking Henry upside the head with it, giving me just seconds to get out of the way.

I duck and weave, side stepping to give the guy a clearer opening and hit the rusted metal guard rail at the docks edge and am immediately reminded yet again of my inability to swim.

I take a step away from the rail, just picking up a prolonged yell that I suddenly realize is getting louder as well as closer and duck just in time to avoid getting my head bashed in by a bat. "The hell was that asshole?! You tryin to kill me to something? "

"Ya _really_ thought I'd believe ya when ya said ya weren't a Purple Dragon?" hockey mask laughs as he swings again and I just barely dodge, stepping back and hitting that rail once again. I see the rest of the Purple Dragons who'd surrounded me and blanch at the bloody mess they are.

The next time he swings I grab the bat and grit my teeth, my hand sore from catching it full power just inches from my temple. I catch a glimpse of Raph just as he looks at me and see him start to make his way over all the while fighting off the other thirty affiliates surrounding him.

"Why can't you pull your head out of your ass and _believe_ me?! Not _everyone's_ a bad guy you know!" I shout, thoroughly pissed now. The guy twists the bat out of my hand and shoves it against my collarbone, pushing me harder against the guard rail. I shove back against the bat, remembering it only take twenty pounds of pressure to break a human collarbone. ((_Ahem, _if I may real quick Authors note: that's actually accurate! Cool huh? Learned that from my martial arts teacher! Anywho moving along)) I feel fear prickle my scalp again as I hear the waves hit the bottom of the dock and push against the bat desperately as I hear the guardrail creak under our combined weight.

"Cuz yer a criminal, granted a hot one even wit the bruises, but still a criminal!" He says cockily to me, I feel a groan fighting it way up as the adrenaline wears off and my ribs begin to protest again, the boot making my stance awkward as I fight this battle of strength.

"Listen to me very carefully, I'm not a gangster and we're both on the same side! I came here with him!" I say, trying to stay calm as I nod to where Raph is now fighting a familiar looking red haired man, I look down at where the pup is now snarling into the hockey man's jeans and tearing them apart quite effectively "Do you think if I were an affiliate I would have saved the puppy?"

At this the guys grip lets up and he looks me over, weighing his options before looking over his shoulder and seeing Raph kicking the snot out of some Purple Dragons, who obviously came to gang in on his fight with the Red Head and glancing over at me every few seconds. I catch his eyes and nod to him to let him know I'm alright and he returns it, though he doesn't look like he's stalled his efforts to get to us.

"Guess you check out then chickee" the masked guy says as he takes the bat from my already bruising collarbone and steps back. He then extends his hand to shake mine and I reluctantly return the favor "The names jones, Casey jones "

"Wish I could say it was pleasant meeting you" I raise an eyebrow at him and take back my hand. "The names Leea"

"Like as in the Star Wars chick with the buns?" he asks with a slightly annoying laugh, I glare my tolerance for his sudden shift from psychotic to jovial pissing me off.

"_Noo_, as in Leeanna shortened to a nickname ya jackass" I say slightly agitated, leaning down I detach the pup from his pants leg and scoop her up.

"That dogs a jinx, you know that right? " Casey says, flinching as he looks at her like she were a black cat with the number 13 on her collar.

"Oh? and why's that? " I ask as she licks my chin again and I scratch her under the chin, making her tongue loll to the side in contentment, Casey frowns.

"She's only got one ear, a dog with only one ear is bad luck, My cousin Darrel has an American Bully Pit with one ear and ever since he got him he's been in nothin but pain and accidents " he says as though everyone knows this, I frown a moment but then I smile sweetly.

"That's a good name for you isn't it sweetie? Jinx, do you like that?" I ask her and she adjusts herself so her paws are on my chest and she's practically sitting up on her own to lick my entire face in excitement. I realize that her tail is only a gnarled and bloodied stub and feel a stab of sympathy enter my heart as I remind myself to have Donny check her for infections

" yer goin to have to do betta then that Raphael !" I hear an irish sounding man yell in anger, I look over to see Raph facing down four more Purple Dragon's and one massively muscled red head and put the puppy down immediately on the pile of nets she'd been hiding in earlier.

Casey's already over there and I'm on my way when I hear an enormously loud growl beneath the dock. I stop in my tracks and just seconds after its like dynamite and a huge hole is created beside me so close that it sends me into the water. I desperately grab onto an almost fallen board and cling for dear life as more fighting and snarls fills my ears, along with what sounds like almost relieved greetings from Raphael.

I start to pull myself out of the water but my ribs scream when I try, pushing the rumors about the hundreds of sharks rumored to have integrated into the Hudson out of my mind as I whimper a little in fear.

"_Don't you dare look down, Leea don't you dare look down_" I think to myself but I find myself glancing down anyway to find myself hip deep in murky and blackened, freezing cold water. I listen to the fight and hear a new voice joining the mix but just as it sounds that 'Richard ' is outnumbered I hear him tell his opponents that he'll be seeing them again soon. The sight and sounds of Purple Dragons running away and right past the hole almost deafening. Suddenly I hear two counts of " oh no ya don't " and then the telltale sound of a collision somewhere.

"Geez! Will ya get offa me?!" I hear Casey shout, I hear footsteps on the dock.

"If ya hadn't of gotten in my way I could stopped Dick from escapin! Who the hell are ya anyway? Wayne Gretzky on steroids? " Raph shouts angrily, I hear a third set of foot falls much heavier than those of the two bickering vigilantes.

"The names Casey jones and you, _Greeny_, owe me an apology " Casey says with a cockyness that irritates the shit out of me, I roll my eyes.

"_Greeny? How many brain cells did you put to work on that one smart ass_ " I think to myself,

"Greeny? Really? How long did it take ya ta think that one up wise guy?" Raph says his tone infinitely sarcastic, I gasp when something big brushes against my leg, my earlier thoughts on sharks rushing back full force.

"G-guys? " I say much quieter then I'd meant to, but they keep going like a pair of two year olds

"Aye! I could use some help here!" I shout as loud as I can with fear constricting my throat and my ribs burning with abandon. I shiver as I realize the waters now up to my waist. Franticly I look up at the board I'm clinging to only to realize that it's steadily breaking off from the dock and quickly look around for another lifeline. I see a rope tie from one of the boat hooks hanging off the bottom of the dock and reach for it, latching onto it just as the board breaks and I go under. I pull myself up above the water and cough up some that I swallowed in the process.

"Hush you two! I heard something" A somewhat gentler voice demands, I try to form words but coughing takes that ability from me.

I look up and to my left where the hole is to start trying to get attention and see the pup staring down at me, she's holding herself on the dock as the two knuckleheads start to argue again. She whimpers and watches me upside down, her sawed ear bleeding into the water and her healthy one dangling. I finally take a deep breath and reach toward her to push her back up on the dock and she disappears, Then I hear her start barking like crazy.

"Ay mut will shut- hey where'd the hot chick go? " I hear Casey say, I roll my eyes in disgust.

" she's probably back by my bike, that stubborn little- s'goin ta be a bitch ta train her" I hear Raph rant angrily, I narrow my eyes my fear forgotten for the moment, I open my mouth to retort but suddenly I feel something bite down on my leg hard, causing me to shout in pain.

"_T__he literal fuck was that?!_" I ask myself frantically, as I try to move my leg but whatever's attached holds tight.

"You son of a bitch if you'd stop fighting for two seconds you'd have realized that I'm underneath the damn dock!" I shout angrily, finally gaining the sense to use my other leg to kick whatever had bitten me off. After a moment of silence Casey's head appears in the hole with a flash light that he blatantly shines in my face.

"Oh! There ya are sweetheart! Thought you'd ditched us!" He says with a small wink, I scowl and turn my head away from the light, rolling my eyes in annoyance as he's suddenly yanked from the hole with a surprised shout, A huge scaled head replaces his.

"Miss, if you'd please take my hand I'd gladly pull you to safety" a proper and kind voice tells me as his head retreats and a scaled hand takes its place. gathering all the courage I can muster at this point I force myself to let go of the rope with my left hand and grab his, his hand easily dwarfs mine and I'm slowly and gently pulled directly below the hole.

Once there another scaled hand reaches out to me and I grab it, in one swift movement I'm lifted from the water and set down gently on the dock. I look up to find Casey staring at me weirdly as a large leather jacket is placed around my shoulders by a less than happy looking Raphael. I thank the giant alligator man and Raphael, then looking back at Casey whose still staring awkwardly.

"_What?!_ What could _possibly_ be so interesting about me that you just _have_ to stare?!" I snap at him in irritation as the pup comes over to me and climbs up under the jacket, adjusting herself so that her head is outside the neckline and she's using my chest as a sitting area. I stand up with Raphs help and he glares at Casey.

"Stop starin at her chest man " Raph says, his tone deadly serious. I look from Casey to Raph and back at Casey, finally realizing what casey must have been staring at.

"_Why you son of a-_ " I start to say through gritted teeth, raising my hand to slap him. He jumps back and would have fallen into the hole if the alligator guy hasn't been there to stop his descent though personally I might have just let him fall in.

"No that ain't it! You just look familiar now that I'm gettin a good look at ya is all " he says, still staring but looking more like he were trying to place me this time.

"_Yeah_ _right_ " Raph mumbles with a chuckle, Casey turns and glares at him.

"What was that freak? I didn't quite hear ya with all ya ugly in my face " he says snarkily, I groan as Raph walks right up to him and they immediately start to argue again. I feel the pup nuzzle my neck and smile.

"She seems to enjoy your company " the kind voice from before says to me I turn to my left and find the 7'8 alligator standing there, reaching over gently to pet her head and instead having Jinx turn and start enthusiastically licking his clawed finger.

"Yeah I guess she does " I reach up and pet her unmarred ear, The gator looks down at me curiously as I stare at the hole.

"If I may ask, why did you not simply swim to safety?" he asks me, I shrug a bit and sigh.

"I never learned how" I laugh a little bit and he nods, looking a little bit surprised. Before he can ask more I continue with a question of my own "I never caught your name"

"My name is Leatherhead, yet Raph and the others have taken to addressing me as LH " he says with a no doubt unintentionally intimidating smile as he reaches out to shake my hand.

"Mines Leeanna but everyone just calls me Lee, Leea, or Leeann" I say, shaking his hand with a smile, he treats me as though I were glass and although I don't usually like being treated like some easily killable flower I think that he does it with good reason.

"Well Leeanna, might I then ask how you came to be beneath the dock?" LH asks me, a curious glint in his yellow eyes. I open my mouth to explain but shut it when Casey starts to yell obscenely loud.

"You wanna fight freak?! Friday, Central Park! Lets see who comes out on top then" he snarls angrily, I roll my eyes with an annoyed sigh, closing them and pinching the bridge of my nose as I hear a shove and then the sounds people rolling around and cursing at each other.

"Shall we? " I ask LH, my tone holding a slightly fake positive note, I open my eyes and LH chuckles.

"Please, allow me " he responds, walking over to the brawling men and, grabbing them both by the collar, easily pulls them apart and holds them off the ground. I walk over as he sets them down and situate myself between them, thinking it might clear their heads if they had something between them to focus on. Casey though stands there and seethes, looking right over my head and completely ignoring me as he charges forward toward Raph.

I put a hand on Casey's chest when he lunges forward, pushing me roughly into Raphs chest so hard that the turtle has to grab my shoulders to keep me from falling over. Surprise taking over my features by how angry he is.

"Jeez calm down Jones.. " I say, he looks down at me and then at Raph.

"Yea whateva toots, you know where I'll be Friday night if ya want ta settle this" he glares at Raph but then he smirks at me, giving me another once over "that goes for you too babe,"

"Don't get sleazy" I admonish calmly as I slap him upside the head, I turn toward the building and head toward the bike "you comin Raph?"

"I'm comin" I hear Raph say behind me, I don't turn around but I wave to LH.

"Hope to see you again LH, I can actually say it was pleasant meeting you " I say as Jinx shifts inside the jacket to get comfortable.

I get to the bike a second before Raph does and get on, putting one arm around her and leaving one free to hold onto Raph, Who gets on the bike in front of me without a word, handing me the helmet.

I put it on and hold Jinx securely to my chest as I put my arm around Raphs waist, Chills riding up my spine as the bike roars to life and he grabs my hand forcing it to tighten around his sweatshirt before the bike lurches forward.

I smile despite myself, enjoying the ride as we get on the main roads, Raph looks over his shoulder suddenly and smirks, I laugh a bit and he turns back around and starts to weave rapidly between cars, I gasp and tighten my grip as we narrowly miss a semi. I feel Raph laugh and even though I'm already thinking about what I'm going to say about him leaving on my own against four Purple Dragon's and a hockey masked lunatic I have to laugh with him.

When we finally pull into the garage and he parks the motorcycle, he gets off and turns to face me as I swing my booted leg over the bike and cross it over my uninjured leg using only momentum. I'm about to open my mouth to start my interrogation but he beats me to the punch.

"Why didn't ya fight him?" Raph asks me bluntly, I shift my hold on Jinx and tilt my head at him a little in confusion.

"Who Casey? We were on the same side, I didn't see a reason too" I look at him with a curious yet off put expression "Speakin of, here's a better question, are you going to Central Park on Friday night?"

"Yea and you ain't comin doll I ain't takin the chance that he'll go crazy and try ta fight you too, ya saw what he did ta those Purple Dragon's " he says his arms crossed over his chest, he points at me as he speaks and I roll my eyes but he surprises me by suddenly grabbing my arm and helping up off the bike.

I turn my head and blush a bit at the gentlemanly treatment, I can't help but wonder from my experience with men built like Raph how someone so bulky can even be gentle at all.

I walk over to the tool box in the corner and pull out the first aid kit I'd noticed before, walking over to the workbench and pulling a swivel chair over to me. I sit and open the jacket, lowering a sleeping Jinx carefully onto the table.

I smile and stroke her white and tan fur as I open the kit and take out the gauze, bandages and peroxide. Jinxs eyes flutter open and she stretches on the table before looking up at me and then at the peroxide in my hand. In response she stands and walks closer to me and lays down again, leaning heavily against me.

" Its not him I'm worried about Red, " I grab the peroxide and pet Jinxes head as I pour a small bit on her mangled ear and begin to clean it " by the way while we're on the topic of Purple Dragon's, why did you leave me alone with four of them to run off and do whatever? "

" I said the code w- is that the dog from earlier? " he asks, interrupting himself as he grabs a stool and brings it over to the table, sitting and watching me as I lay the gauze on her ear and apply the bandage.

"_Nooo,_ I thought she was a cat! You saw her when I came out of the warehouse remember?" I say sarcastically, earning a scoff from Raph as I continue "Some assholes in the warehouse were trying to crop her ears for fighting"

"Does NYU allow pets?" Raph asks, his tone straight forward as though he didn't even need to ask if I were keeping her or not. I sigh as I tie off the bandage.

"I'm gonna keep her at the dorms as long as I can as soon as it's safe to go back " I inform him as Jinx looks up and licks my chin.

"What'll happen if they find her?" He asks me, out of the corner of my eye I see him lean against the workbench, still sitting on the stool.

"They'll give me a warning along with two days to find her a suitable home, if found after that they will expel me and put her in the pound " I say reciting a line from the rule book I was given that I'd read out of boredom.

"What are you goin ta do for the days when ya at class" Raph asks, I shrug.

"I could probably ask Bre to take care of her for those days" I say, scooping Jinx into my arms and turning to face Raph in the chair. Who I only now realize is only a few inches away from me, our knees colliding when I swivel to face him. I let out a breathe I hadn't known I'd been holding and laugh just slightly, he just sits there and stares at me. I find myself unable to look away from his amber eyes until finally he clears his throat and turns the stool away from me, standing up and walking toward the elevator.

"So you said the dog is a her, how do you know that?" He asks me curiously and I give him a -_are you kidding me-_ look. "Yea Yea, stupid question, how are your ribs doin?"

"Okay I _guess_" I answer a little unsure of why he asked "Oh! Hey! You never answered my question, what exactly was the plan when you used me as Purple Dragon bait?"

"Don't start okay? I told ya the code words, it ain't my fault ya didn't hear'em" he says hitting the button to the elevator, I stand and walk over to him as the doors open and step into it.

"Not your fault? I didn't even know you _had_ a code word or sentence or whatever for that situation before _you_ left me there, so yeah it is a bit your fault" I say my voice rising a little.

"Well _excuse_ _me_ for improvising a little" he says his tone louder still as the elevator lowers itself.

"A little? I'd say a freakin lot Raph! That could have ended really badly for me and you know it!" I say, my voice rising as I glare at him.

"Hey! Be happy I even took ya wit me doll! Next time I won't " he shouts at me, I grit my teeth and try to take a calming breathe but fail miserably.

"I'm just saying that next time you dig up a plan to use me as bait or a distraction or whichever the hell it is, don't leave _me_ out of it! " I say louder then I intended to as the doors open.

**~***_** Bre's p.o.v**__**end of flashback**_** *~**

"Oh wow " I say, my eyes a bit wide after everything, I stand and go directly over to where I know they keep bowls and then go to the bag of dog food I brought from my apartment this morning. Joey hears the bag and comes running, he stops when he sees Jinx but decides that food is more important and bounds over to where I stand in the kitchen, nosing the bowl that Mikey had put out for him this morning but I nudge him out of the way. "Not for you Joe"

" yeah, for the first time in my life all I want to do is just sleep for the next few days " she says from the couch as I bring over the bowl, the puppy on her lap looks up at me and then to the bowl and wags her stub quickly back and forth in excitement, obviously wanting to jump down and come get it but looking from Leea to Joey and settling in closer to the girl. I set the bowl down on the couch for her and she immediately inches forward and begins to eat, oblivious to Joey as he gently sniffs her from where he sits next to the couch, careful not to scare her.

"Then why don't you?" I ask her, laughing a bit as I watch her head go back against the couch and her eyes close.

"Cause I've got to watch Jinx and change her gauze every hour or so" she says quietly, I smile in a mother hen kind of way and pick bowl and puppy up off the couch and put both on the floor. Joey's nose following the puppy who now notices he's there and shirks away with a whimper only to be nudged by joeys muzzle comfortingly back toward the bowl. As if encouraging her to finish eating.

"I'll do that, you go ahead and get some sleep, isn't that what the doctor said just before big, bald, and ugly interrupted? 24 hours bed rest?" I tell her, pushing her over so that she kind of falls on her side on the couch, She nods but then shakes her head.

"Yeah that's what he said but I can't let you stay up with her, you weren't the one that brought her here in the first place" she says with a yawn, trying to push herself back up and again but wincing, I shove a hand against her shoulder to keep her down and grab a pillow from the arm chair, shoving it under her head.

"I don't care, you need to rest and I'm sure Donnie would agree" I say, she starts to protest but I grab the blanket from the top of the couch and lay it over her gently. She sighs a bit and her eyes drift closed, she mumbles another protest but then swiftly falls asleep. I straighten and smile a bit, Joey watching the puppy as she finishes eating and then laying down in between the coffee table and couch. The little pit bull looks from me to Joey curiously then sidles up close to the much bigger dog and licks his face before climbing over him to the couch and jumping up, she wriggles beneath the blanket and I watch as her head pops out next to Leea's and she snuggles in and falls asleep.

I smile and walk over to the arm chair, I settle into it and prepare to wait an hour so I can change Jinx's bandages. All the while thinking about what I'd seen of Leea and Raphs exchange and her explanation of the events of tonight.

I think back to when Raph apologized, remembering how Leo and everyone else said that Raph never apologizes to anyone and never backs down from an argument, now that I think of it that's pretty much Leea's MO when it comes to a fight too.

"_S__o why did you both apologize to each other?_" I ask myself quietly, Joey comes to sit beside me, resting his head on my knees. I stroke his ear gently as I also realize what else was bothering me about Leea's explanation of tonights events but I figure it can wait until the morning.


	6. BTY Chapter 6

_Hola my lovelys! How are y'all doing? Sorry I've been slow! Things have been hectic in the Tmntfreak household!_

_Anywho! Without further adoo_

_**Chapter 6 of Bound To You!**_

_**~* Huns P.O.V, PD H.Q *~**_

"What do you mean the dog rings are a bust?!" I shout angrily at the scrawny boy standing across from where I sit in my desk chair. The boy flinches visibly and starts shaking.

"Some chick in a hoodie and two of those freaks busted it" the kid wrings his hands in front of him "The cops came and caught twenty of our men"

"There's something you ain't tellin me, so spit it out before I lose my patience boy " I say darkly, the kids shaking intensifies and he takes a deep breath.

"Casey jones was there to and from what I heard the chick that was helpin'im was the one you've had us looking for sir" the kid says meekly, I grit my teeth and stand slowly.

"So your telling me that fifty of my best men were taken out by two freaks and a 19 year old girl that we've been looking for, for two days now not only took down one of the biggest rings in the city but also that not one of my men recognized her or thought that maybe they should have brought her and that traitor Jones in?" I say quietly, walking around the desk to tower over the much shorter male. His eyes widen to the size of saucers and he nods, shaking violently now.

"Y-yes s-sir.. That's what I'm s-saying.. B-but one of our men overheard Casey challenge the freak to a fight in Central Park!" he tells me, his voice high pitched and strained. In a split second I've grabbed him by the shirt and have him hauled off his feet, readying my fist to connect with his face.

"Now Hun, is that anyway to treat the poor boy? As the saying goes you should not kill the messenger, only the reason for the message" I hear a Japanese accented woman's voice say sweetly from my right, I look and see a woman with brown almond shaped eyes and long black hair staring at me as if they she owned the window sill she's standing in.

"Karai, to what do I owe the displeasure of your company" I ask her, dropping the boy and not watching to see him scramble out of my office. Karai smiles politely at me and jumps down gracefully from the window sill.

"My father would like to know when he can expect his guests " she says dropping a Manila folder onto the desk, pictures of three different women slide out. I pick up the pictures and examine them.

The first woman I see is walking down a New York street with groceries in her hands, she's a strawberry blond and has a very tall trench coated friend beside her, she's laughing at something, She seems tall in the picture in comparison to her companion but I can't tell.

The second girl I see is a dark red haired woman hailing a taxi outside of NYU, a backpack slung over her shoulder. She seems shorter than the first girl but again I can't tell, although she does look familiar. I can't place where I've seen her again I see she has a tall man in a trench coat for company.

The last picture is of Abernathies niece, she's climbing out of a cab with a blue dress on. The other two girls are doing the same thing and seem to be going to a night club, I recognize to be the one on 7th avenue . I can tell this ones short by the comparison of her height to the cab, she hasn't been spotted since that night.

"Tell Shredder he'll have his guests soon, my men failed to bring in those girls but this time I've got a few ideas ta bring'em out of their hiding place and get you some insight on what exactly those freaks are planning" I tell her confidently even though I despise this woman. I turn to her and she stares at me no humor about her.

"Good because if you fail again, my father will take things into his own hands " she saunters over with a small black knife in her palm, sliding the sharpened edge across my desk, she leaves a thick mark in the wood. " and then there goes your precious alliance "

"Your father won't have to take things into his own hands because as of right now I'm taking them into mine, startin with this one, she looks like a fun one" I say with an edge to my voice, picking up one of the pictures and ripping it in half, letting the pieces fall to the floor as I walk from the room.

I didn't stay long enough to see Karai pick up the picture of the girl I'm going after first and smirk at it.

_**~* In the Lair at 12:40, Thursday Afternoon, Leea's P.O.V *~**_

I wake up to something rough and wet hitting my face repeatedly and my eyes snap open to see Jinx sitting in front of me with her stub wagging happily. Her bandages are bright white and seem to have been put on recently.

I look around and see no one but Joey and Jinx in the living room. I sit up slowly so as not to hurt my ribs and when they don't protest I frown in confusion and poke myself them gently, feeling nothing other than the soreness of a bruise.

I hear faint fighting from the dojo and push myself gingerly to the edge of the couch. Jinx sits on my medical boot as it touches the floor. I smile at her and stand, putting more weight on my uninjured foot then not to see if that has made any progress and sighing relieved when I find it has. Jinx jumps off my foot as I step forward and goes immediately to a sleeping Joey and catapult onto his neck, biting his ear playfully. The bigger dog wakes and rolls over, knocking the puppy off of him and goes back to sleep.

I laugh at this and shake my head as Jinx pushes herself up and sneezes, walking over to me and jumping up on my leg, Apparently bored of the older much sleepier dog. I lean down and pick her up, making my way to the dojo as she kisses my face.

Once there I peek inside to see Raph and Leo sparring with the rest of the lairs inhabitants watching them. I sneak in as quietly as I can and kneel beside Mikey whose currently explaining something to Liza that I must have missed the question for.

"-like that because they but heads all the time, both think they should be the leader of our motley superhero crew" he finishes with a wink to Liz, who sees me and smiles happily "it's less motley with you, Bre, April and Leeann though, even if Leea still looks like she took a sledge hammer to the face"

"Thanks Mike" I say my voice dead panning, he jumps and turns to face me.

"Heh.. heheheh.. when'd you get here sleepy head?" he asks his tone trying to fake innocence as he rubs the back of his neck obviously hoping the remark about my sleepiness will help his predicament. I roll my eyes and Liz laughs, I turn to watch the sparring session.

"I just woke up and heard all of you in here, what time is it?" I ask as Jinx jumps from my arms and onto the mat beside me, She sits and looks the picture of obedience as she watches Raph and Leo dutifully .

" It's 12:43 in the afternoon, you came home at 5:39 Tuesday morning slept through Wednesday and half of today" Bre says from the other side of Liza, leaning forward and appearing suddenly as though poking her head out from behind Liza. My jaw drops and before I can ask my question Bre cuts me off. "We didn't wake you up because the doctor told you to rest for at least a day and you looked all peaceful and happy so we took a bunch of pictures! It was Mikey's idea really but it was a lot of fun!"

"Well I'm glad y'all had fun at my expense but why the hell would you let me sleep for a day and a half?! I missed orientation for my culinary classes" I ask already planning out my revenge and thinking of every single place those pictures could be.

"Don't worry about it! Me and Bre went to your orientation for you! We took a video and some notes!" Liz says, giggling a bit. I sigh and smile at them.

"Thanks guys" I tell them lightly, relieved that they did that for me, I watch as raphs sai comes within inches of Leo's face, my eyes widen a little. "Are they supposed to be going at it like that?"

"No but they always do it anyway, the whole rival thing" Mike says shrugging a bit, I look back out at the brawling brothers and am surprised to notice Raph watching me out of the corner of his eye. I raise an eyebrow at him through my smile and he smirks, holding back Leo's katana with his sai, in the middle of a power struggle.

Raph suddenly drops his sai, causing Leo to fumble forward and Raph hits him in the shell with the butt of his sai's handle.

"Well _someones_ showing off" Mikey says with a small smile, I roll my eyes at the intended meaning and Mikey yawns a bit, his stomach growling audibly.

"When was the last time you guys ate?" I ask him suddenly Mike looks at me like I just grew a head because of the seriousness in my tone but Liza and Bre just exchange a knowing look and watch the events unfold.

"We woke up at four thirty for an early session " he says sounding a bit like a two year old about to be scolded. My jaw drops and I immediately stand up and walk out of the dojo, heading straight for the kitchen. Just as I'm leaving I hear Leo tell Raph to pay attention followed closely with a huge thud.

I go into the kitchen and immediately look through the cabinets, judging by the pizza boxes everywhere I already know what I'm making the ninja family and my friends for lunch. I grab the flour and the eggs and everything I need for pizza dough and set to work.

Once the dough is made I clear the kitchen table and wipe it down, pulling my hair into a high ponytail and washing my hands again I start to spread the dough in a large circle.

I walk over to the fridge and grab the marina sauce and a ladle, pouring some into it and spreading it in large circles on the dough, going in spirals to the center. I start to sing one of my favorite songs _'I wanna die'_ by Miranda lambert as I work, grabbing the cheese and sprinkling it on heavily, along with the pepperoni and sausage.

I preheat the oven and go to my purse in the living room, now thoroughly in the mood for some music I grab my iPod and put on some music from my dance playlist.

I head back just as the oven dings telling me it's hot enough and grab a pizza pan and slide it beneath my creation and stick it in, my music blasting and eventually causing me to dance as I wait for the pizza to be done, I start to sing as the track changes.

_***Sometimes I hate every single stupid word you say**_

_**Sometimes I wanna slap you in your whole face**_

_**There's no one quite like you**_

_**You push all my buttons down**_

_**I know life would suck without you***_

I close my eyes and lean against the counter, slightly out of breathe from the constant movements of quickly getting the pizza ready to go in time for them to get out of their session.

_***At the same time, I wanna hug you**_

_**I wanna wrap my hands around your neck**_

_**You're an asshole but I love you**_

_**And you make me so mad I ask myself**_

_**Why I'm still here, or where could I go**_

_**You're the only love I've ever known**_

_**But I hate you, I really hate you,**_

_**So much, I think it must be***_

I detach myself from the counter and start to dance around the kitchen, letting the beat take me in whatever direction it wants.

_***True love, true love**_

_**It must be true love**_

_**Nothing else can break my heart like**_

_**You love, true love,**_

_**It must be true love**_

_**No one else can break my heart like you***_

_***Just once try to wrap your little brain around my feelings**_

_**Just once please try not to be so mean**_

_**Repeat after me now R-O-M-A-N-C-E-E-E**_

_**Come on I'll say it slowly (Romance)**_

_**You can do it babe***_

I chuckle as I continue the song and both dogs in the lair come into the kitchen and lay in the corner. Jinx climbing on top of Joey and curling up on his back, balancing on him with her back against the wall. I sway over to the duo and lean down, petting them both gently as they sleep then continuing with my dance.

_***At the same time, I wanna hug you**_

_**I wanna wrap my hands around your neck**_

_**You're an asshole but I love you**_

_**And you make me so mad I ask myself**_

_**Why I'm still here, or where could I go**_

_**You're the only love I've ever known**_

_**But I hate you, I really hate you,**_

_**So much, I think it must be***_

_***True love, true love**_

_**It must be true love**_

_**Nothing else can break my heart like**_

_**You love, true love,**_

_**It must be true love**_

_**And no one else can break my heart like you***_

I walk to the beat over to the oven, and check the pizza, smiling when I see that putting it at a higher temp to cook it wasn't burning it and was instead making it cook faster, it would be done soon. I shut the oven and smile as I sing on.

_***Why do you rub me up the wrong way?**_

_**Why do you say the things that you say?**_

_**Sometimes I wonder how we ever came to be**_

_**But without you I'm incomplete***_

_***I think it must be**_

_**True love, true love**_

_**It must be true love**_

_**Nothing else can break my heart like**_

_**You love, true love,**_

_**It must be true love**_

_**And no one else can break my heart like you**_

_**No one else can break my heart like you**_

_**No one else can break my heart like you***_

I hum the instrumental at the end as I close the oven and turn around, squeaking loudly when I see a panting Raphael standing there. I blush at the embarrassing sound that came from my mouth and wonder how long he'd been there. He tries to ask me something but I don't hear him, I tilt my head in confusion and he closes the distance between us with an amused smile. As he reaches me he pulls my earbud out gently, laying it on my shoulder.

"What are you makin Doll? Smells great" he asks me a bit louder, I smile at the compliment and gesture to the oven.

"I figured by all the pizza boxes in the trash that you guys like pizza, so I made you guys some" I say with a shrug, he looks me up and down and smiles. "I mean Mikey told me you woke up at four thirty and I'm assuming you haven't eaten since then so yeah"

"Thanks Doll, I'm sure everyone's gonna love it" He nods to me then turns to leave, flinging a towel from the counter over his shoulder. Suddenly he stops and turns back to me, striding over and leaning so his mouth is right next to my ear, making my heart flutter strangely in my chest as he winks and places a hand on the counter next to me, whispering "nice moves by the way"

I blush furiously and swat his arm, laughing and failing to sound annoyed.

"You weren't supposed to see that" I say to him and he chuckles, looking down at me from his height. His amber eyes trapping my green and blue ones once again, like they always do when they catch mine fully, I laugh a little bit as he just stares at me a moment.

That is until Mikey bursts into the kitchen with Liza on his back. Liza looks at the two of us and grins a bit, Raph steps back and walks around Mikey to the island, sitting on one of the stools there.

"Did I hear you were making pizza?! Like homemade, crafted from scratch cheesy goodness, pizza?" Mikey asks me excitedly, I laugh and nod and he sets Liza down and grabs me, dragging me into a sweaty bear hug "thank you! thank you! thank you! I'm starving!"

"You shouldn't be so surprised I mean the chicks going to college for culinary arts! Plus she has issues with her friends being hungry and not telling her so…" Liza says between laughs, probably at my '_oh hush it'_ expression, Mikey laughs and holds me tighter, twirling me in a single circle.

"You should cook for us all the time then! We can be your Guinea pigs!" Mikey says excitedly, looking down at me in his arms.

"kay.. Mike.. thanks but... I can't.. breathe.. ribs.. are hurting.." I groan, pressed up against his plastron uncomfortably. Donnie walks in behind a cracking up Liza, an excited Owen on his shoulders, clapping at the sight of his uncles.

"Mikey you might want to let her go, you'll probably end up hurting her if you keep hugging her like that" he says matter of factly, Owen giggles and Mikey drops me like a hot potato, my boot clanking on the stone floor.

"I'm sorry! Are you okay?" he asks, his blue eyes full of regret until I nod with a chuckle.

"I'm tougher than I look buddy, it'll take more than a sweaty bear hug to take me out" I say with obvious pride and he laughs as Liza jumps up on his back again.

"Hey Mike you want me to beat you in DDR again?" Liza asks excitedly, I smile at the challenge interlaced in her voice and so does Don.

"Oh really? You're going to beat me?" Mikey asks her incredulously, she smirks and nods at him.

"Like Mike Tyson in the ring" Liz says and Mikey's eye bug as he laughs.

"Oh whoa! It's on princess!" he says and bounds out of the kitchen as April's coming in with Leo, Bre, and Sensei.

"Did he just call her princess?" Bre asks with a laugh, I nod as I go back to the oven and see that it's done.

"Yep it was cute" I put on an oven-mit and take the pizza out of the oven, placing it on the stove top I slice it into twelfths I continue in a shout for Liza and Mikey's sake. "Lunch is ready so come an' get it 'fore its gone!"

"After I beat him like a piñata at a little kids birthday party!" Liza shouts back to me, I hear Mikey's offended guffaw as the kitchens occupants take slices of their own. April cutting Owens into tiny bits once Donnies done setting him his high chair.

"Been there done that princess! We'll see who the piñata is once I'm done with you!" he says jokingly, I can almost hear his grin and I know Liza's stuck her tongue out at him. Leo and Bre rolls their eyes and dig into their pizza. Raph chuckles at the two and I smile at his softer side making a brief appearance along with at the close knit family before me, wondering how this groups come to be so close to us even though we've all just barely been able to get to know each other.

Ten minutes later the both of them come into the kitchen, Liza with a proud grin and Mikey pouting. I give Mikey a sympathetic smile and grab two plates, setting two pieces on each and handing them to the gamers.

"She beat you?" I ask mike but Liza answers as she sits and takes a bite of her pizza, Mikey pouts and sits beside her at the island.

"Like a piñata"

Mikey frowns at Liza as I grab a slice from the already cut pizza for myself and chomp down on it. After I do I see Mikey giving me the widest eyed expression I've ever seen, a bitten piece of pizza in his hand. After a moment of growing discomfort I finally raise an eyebrow and speak.

"_What?"_ I ask, thoroughly uncomfortable. Raph frowns at his little brother and thumps his back, causing him to spew words.

"I'll never eat take out pizza again" he says seriously, I roll my eyes as Bre and the rest take another piece of pizza. Master Splinter entering the kitchen moments after, I smile to the old rat and grab the plate I'd set aside for him and hand it along to him. He nods to me gratefully and smiles as I do.

"Ohmigod! Leeann this is great!" April says, after taking a bite of hers, I earn similar comments from everyone else and even Raph gives me a thumbs up. I blush and rub the back of my neck trying to keep the excitement contained at their approval, realizing I must look like a little kid blushing and staring at the floor.

"Thanks guys! I'd be happy to make more if we need to" I say laughing, Raph gives me a slightly surprised look while everyone else just nods enthusiastically. I grab my slice and bite into it to avert my eyes from Raphs, who've now started to rave over me slowly.

"Hey! I got an idea!" Liza gets her lightbulb expression and swallows her pizza "let's all play DDR!"

"Hell yeah! Lets do it!" Bre says excitedly and Owen claps his hand, laughing at Bre's choice of words. I roll my eyes and start packing up the leftover's to put in the fridge, wrapping it in seran wrap and placing it in the lower shelf.

"You realize I can't dance right?" I ask Liza with a chuckle, she's about to respond when Raph beats her to it.

"I'm callin yer bull shit, You can dance just fine from what I've seen" Raph tells me, not sounding the least bit sarcastic as he looks me over seriously. I hide my bright red cheeks and close the fridge as the family starts to pile out to the living room.

"Gotta agree with him Lee! I saw you dancing that night at the club! And let me tell you a bunch of other guys saw it too!" Mikey tells me with a mischevious smile that earns him a smack upside the head from Raph and surprisingly Liza as well. April laughs and picks up Owen, and with more convincing from Bre I agree to play along and soon everyone's camped out in the living room, playing DDR and having a blast.

After playing DDR for an hour and winnowing out the competition there's only two of us left to face each other.

I get up and go to the mat for my turn and Raph gets up too. I smirk at him a little.

"Ready to lose Raph? I mean you could just forfeit you might save some pride that way" I say cockily, he smirks back at me and laughs.

"I could say the same for you doll face" he says to me gesturing down at my boot, "I mean I do have an unfair advantage you know I could take it easy on you if you want"

"Oh really? Take it easy on me I dare you! It'll just make my win even more exciting" I take a chance and wink at him, thinking it'll make him blush again but instead causing him to smirk and his eyes to rake over me.

"Oh sweetheart I don't plan too, I was just saying I could, I mean I'm a dancing machine and I don't want to hurt your feelings when I beat you with the epic dancing skills you lack" He tells me jokingly, causing a laugh to leave my mouth.

"Oh yeah? Is that why I beat Leo first round?" I say with a laugh, everyone starts to laugh and Leo groans in embarrassment.

"Are you kidding? Leo couldn't dance if you put him in classes with that Zumba guy! He's got two left feet" Mikey guffaws from the couch, earning a punch in the shoulder from Leo.

"I can dance just not to the crap you all listen to!" Leo says defensively, earning laughs and a look of sympathy from Bre.

"It's okay Leo I can't dance very well either" she supplies, he looks at her with an eyebrow raised, looking at her up and down.

"I highly doubt that you can't dance Bre" he says with a chuckle, Bre's about to defend her point but Raph interrupts her before she can even get the words out there.

"Ah forget that! Let's do this!" Raph says suddenly as the music starts. I look at the screen and start tapping the correct arrows.

I look over at Raphs screen and see him doing just as well at the moment, Suddenly Raph glances at me from the corner of his eye with a mischievous glint and without warning he reaches over and pokes me in the side, Much to my embarrassment I eep and laugh.

"You cheater! Quit it!" I say to him, still laughing as he tries again to poke me, I swat his hand and lean over poking him in return. He flinches and tries to get me but I dodge away from him.

"Didn't peg you as ticklish doll" he says as we go back to the game for a moment, the song ends and I can't keep myself from smiling as I reach over and punch him in the shoulder.

"And I didn't peg you for a cheater Red!" I say to him as the game calculates our score. He laughs and I smile at the sound, he seems to actually be enjoying himself.

Joey comes out of the kitchen to sit at Bre and Leo's feet and Jinx jumps up onto everyones lap, walking over their knees and finally settling on Mikey's lap. Suddenly Mikey jumps up and April catches Jinx as she tumbles off the turtles lap. He grabs both our heads, turning them toward the screen and earns a smack upside the head from me when my neck cracks painfully from the action, along with retaliation for Jinx whose now cuddled up in April's lap giving Mikey a pouty look.

The screen says that we've tied.

"No way! I want a rematch! But only if ya up to it?" Raph challenges, ending his challenge with a glance at my medical boot.

"You kiddin me? I was about to ask you the same thing Red!" I say to him as I jump onto the mat, Leo and Bre groan both knowing what's coming. Mikey, Don, April, and Liza with a sleepy looking Owen on her lap just sit like they're about to watch a wrestling marathon.

And five hours later the rest of the lairs inhabitants have either lost interest or were called away for chores. Me and Raph are still going when for the first time since Tuesday night I think about what's going to happen on Friday.

"So are you really going to go to Central Park on Friday?" I ask Raph as we collapse on the couch, panting and having just agreed to a truce after getting tie after tie after tie all in a row.

Raph looks at me and sighs, shaking his head and running a hand down his forest green face.

"Yeah doll I'm goin ta Central Park, ya ain't goin so don't ask" Raph says, obviously trying to be patient. I roll my eyes.

"I wasn't going to ask but I do think you should bring some back up with you, I mean Casey seems like the kinda guy who'll get pissed and bludgeon first ask questions later" I reply, my tone also patient. Raph rolls his eyes and smirks.

"And ya think I haven't dealt with some'a those over the years? I'll be fine Doll face " Raph assures me, now it's my turn to roll my eyes.

"Don't call me doll face Red, " I tell him with a slightly quirked up smile. Raph chuckles a bit and grabs my wrist gently, pulling me to my feet.

"C'mon Leea, it's time for ya first weapons training session" Raph says, pulling me toward the dojo, again I marvel at how he can be so gentle as he leads me to the solid oak door.

I look around and realize that I haven't seen Jinx for a while, shrugging it off as I let Raph pull me into the dojo where it seems everyone else has suddenly congregated. Leo and Bre are practicing defensive blocking and Liza's just put Mikey in a viscous point lock. A point lock being where you jam your fingers into the pressure point on the neck and shoulder and pin them once they fall to the ground. Raph goes directly to the weapons rack on the far side of the room.

"Today we're findin out which weapons ya more comfortable usin" Raph pulls a long sword from the shelf and throws it towards me, I catch the handle dangerously close to the blade, I stare at the blade remembering exactly why I don't like using weapons or sharp things and Raph rolls his eyes. "Hold it like this doll, ya gonna cut yourself like that"

Raph walks over to me and puts his hand over mine, moving it lower on the handle and pressing my fingers into it gently to tighten my grip. I feel heat crawling up my neck and take a deep breathe, trying to ignore it.

He grabs my other hand and steps behind me, moving the sword to point out in front of me and putting my other hand around my first. I blush furiously at the feeling of his arms around me and nod quickly, trying to hasten the experience and my reaction to it.

"Okay I got it, now what" I say stepping forward and out of his arms, I tilt the sword up so I don't hit Raph as I turn around but suddenly there's a sai flying at my face.

On instinct I duck and come back up with a round house kick to his chest. As he falls on his shell I hear him swear in surprise, flipping back up onto his feet and glaring at me.

"I meant use the sword to defend yourself, we're trying to see if ya can use the sword easiest" Raph says exasperatedly, I blush scarlet and glare back at him.

"You should have warned me first!" I say, Raph had been watching me with a barely contained smirk until I'd finally said something but then his face changed to seriousness.

"The Purple Dragons ain't gonna give ya any warning before they attack so I ain't goin to either" Raph takes the sword from me gently "Ya obviously ain't inclined for swords so lets try this"

"What is it?" I ask confused as he hands me a pretty looking fan, He smirks as I examine it.

"I wouldn't touch the edges but try throwing it at the targets over there against the wall" he says turning me toward the left back corner where four different colored targets stand, one blue the other three orange, purple, and red.

I raise an eyebrow at him as his hands linger on my shoulders and shrug a bit as I ready my arm to throw the fan. I focus on the blue target since it stands almost directly in front of me direction wise.

For some reason I can't stop myself from throwing it as hard as I can at the target and when it hits the fan slices the very top of the target completely off and comes flying back at me.

Raph grabs me by the belt and yanks me back out of the fans path just in time for it to embed itself in the wall behind us and across the room, right where my neck would be, my jaw drops.

"Holy shit.." I say quietly, my throat dry as Raph retrieves the fan and brings it back to me, flicking it shut and pressing it into my hand, I hold it farther from me then I had earlier.

"We'll keep looking, a weapon you need saving from isn't the weapon for you" he says with a barely withheld chuckle, I roll my eyes and try to laugh off my million mile an hour heartbeat.

"Thanks for the save by the way" I say gratefully, my chest still a bit tight with anxiety for the next weapon.

"Your welcome, " Raph says with a smirk, I glare at him playfully.

"Don't expect anymore times for saving my ass okay? It ain't gonna happen again" I say my accent slipping in with a laugh, Bre laughs at my comment as though she disagrees and I turn to stick my tongue out at her where she stands putting Leo in a full Nelson.

I turn back to Raph and find that suddenly he's staring at me with an intensity that causes me to just stand there feeling awkward for a good five minutes until finally Mikey snaps him out of it.

"The seriousness of your staring at her is making me nervous dude" Mike says to Raph, Raph hushes him with his hand and goes back to the rack. He pulls out a long black chain with one weighted end and hands it to me.

"What's this?" I ask, suddenly curious enough that even Raphs continued stares don't faze me anymore.

"It's called a manriki, it's used for long distance fighting or close range, usually you'll have this and another weapon in case ya lose one or the other in the fight" Raph informs me, I hold it out in front of me and stretch it out almost as far as it can go, seeing that it's longer than my own arm span. "Try twirling it above your head like this"

Raph steps behind me again and grabs my right hand, lifting it above my head and completely covering my hand in order to swing the weighted end above our heads. I try to ignore the annoying tingly feeling I'm getting.

"Okay now what?" I ask Raph suddenly nervous about losing my grip and hurting someone. Raph slowly lets of my hand and lets me twirl it on my own.

"Now try to hit the practice dummy over in the corner, just try getting it over there for now don't try nothing fancy" he admonishes calmly, I've noticed from the session so far that he's a lot more pleasant when training someone. I take a deep breath and stare at the well-used and worn practice dummy.

I twirl the chain above my head I let it fly, it being long enough that even when it hits the dummy the end of it is still in my left hand, hitting the dummy square in the shin.

"Not bad for a beginner" Raph says, I turn to say something but when I look at him I don't see any kind of teasing or animosity in the comment or his expression. "We'll work more with the manriki but for now we'll find you something that'll get you up close and personal to your opponents"

"Alright sounds like a plan" I say with a small smile, I hand him back the manriki when he holds out his hand for it and his fingers brush mine, lingering for a moment. both of us not moving away from each other. He shakes his head suddenly after a minute, removing his hand and going back to the rack.

"Let's try.. Kunai" he says, taking a pair of black ninja knives from the rack I feel my face blanch in reaction to them and swallow, my heart beat rising suddenly. Raph turns around and eyes me for a moment before putting the knives back on the shelf. "Or not? Hmm.. I don't think sai's are goin to work for ya so.. Let's try the Bo staff"

"The what? " I ask, immediately relieved when the knives go on the shelf, Raph walks over to another rack that holds a range of different length wood and metal sticks.

He grabs the shortest one, looking to be about the length of my forearm, and brings it to me him also holding one that's just slightly taller than himself.

"Here, it'll give ya the range ya want and ya won't have to worry about concealing it because it drops to about ten inches" Raph informs me as he presses a button on the short metal one, causing it to snick open on both sides, becoming longer and somehow I noticed it get just a tiny bit thicker. My eyebrows jump to my hair line and I examine it as he hands it to me.

"This things awesome" I say with a small laugh as I start to twirl it a bit, I hit the button and it snicks back. It being about as long as I had originally thought it was.

"Yeah well don't tell Don ya said that it'll give him a big head " Raph says, chuckling slightly at my enthusiasm. I take a step back and twirl it like a baton, throwing it up and catching it as it comes down. My hand hits the button and it opens up right above my medical boot, smacking it hard and denting it.

"Holy crap! This things powerful! Is it supposed to leave dents in stuff?" I ask Raph, immediately hearing how intelligent that sounded, he shrugs.

"Don thought the added force might come in handy, I don't fight him on it" Raph tells me with a shrug, I look around, having just noticed that it's been really quiet for about ten minutes. I see Mikey and Liza almost asleep in the corner talking and then I see that Bre and Leo have left the dojo and gone to watch a movie in the living room which we can see from having left the dojo door open.

From the looks of it, the movie looks like Fifty First Dates but I can't be sure. I sigh, remembering finally what I'd wanted to ask Raph.

"Are going to Central Park tomorrow? " I ask him, as I ask I remember that I had already asked and wince internally, I hear him shift.

"Yeah, and again you ain't comin doll" Raph says with a sigh that tells me he's expecting a fight about this.

"Why not? It couldn't hurt to have some backup?" I let him know this with a slight shift of weight to the left, my hands now planted firmly on my hips, Raph groans.

"I get why ya worried, but I don't need back up" he says, I cross my arms over my chest, giving him my -oh really?- look.

"Is that why Casey and L.H had to help you fight... Richard was it?" I ask him, he glares at me.

"Ya weren't supposed to see that" he murmurs, I roll my eyes.

"Get over your pride and let me help, would you rather go right into a fight with him or at least try to reason things out? You know I have like nine siblings so I've got vast experience mediating angry people" I ask calmly, my tone reasonably low. Raph stops for a moment and thinks. "Plus I'm going either way whether you want me to or not, I owe you as much as I hate to say it since you saved us that first night"

"Oh! So ya finally admitin I was right in protecting ya?" he asks me confidently, I roll my eyes again, biting my lip on the sour feeling of admitting you were wrong.

"_Reluctantly_, yeah" now it's my turn to murmur. Raph stays silent a moment but then he lets out a loud breathe.

"Fine ya can come! But if he don't get the picture that ya tryin to keep him from doin somethin stupid then I'm kicking his ass and yer heading right back to the lair, got it?" he whispers, looking around the dojo to see if Leo or anyone else had heard, pointing at me for my answer.

"Fine, if he still wants to fight after I've talked to him you can kick his ass, but no guarantees I won't beat you to it if he try's anything funny" I say half-jokingly, he smirks a bit and nods.

"Fine, go ta bed we're done tonight" Raph admonishes lightly, I nod and hand him back the Bo staff. "We're goin ta work all day tomorrow with the manriki and the Bo cause you seem to do betta with those okay?"

"Yes sir! " I say my tone low and giving him a mock salute as I walk out of the dojo to the arm chair, deciding to watch the movie with Leo and Bre. Whose now sleeping with her head on Leo's shoulder while the blue banded turtle sleeps with his head resting against the back of the couch.

I smirk and grab Bre's phone from the coffee table, taking a quick picture of the two and, after sending it to my phone, deleting it from hers so she won't know. I flop into the chair sideways, lifting my legs to rest on the chair arm.

"Payback act 1" I whisper to myself through a yawn as Jinx jumps up into my lap and snuggles down against my stomach.

I sit back after replacing the phone on the table and yawn again, I feel my eyes droop lower and lower and I glance at the time, 10:54, I do a double check and revel in the fact that hours of training went by so quickly for me as I stroke Jinx's sleek fur. I notice that someone's redone the stitches on her ear and taken off the bandage I put on just before she promptly falls asleep with me soon after.

_**~*Raph's P.O.V*~**_

After Leeanna leaves the dojo I stay behind to practice with the punching bag, finding peace in the repetition of skin against fabric and, after an hour of abusing my favorite bag, I decide to stop.

I grab the towel from the rack by the dojo door and put it around my neck. I look over to where Mikey and Liza have fallen asleep, Mikey sitting against the wall with Liza's head in his lap. Her hair winds around the fingers of his left hand as though he were playing with it when he'd fallen asleep there. I feel myself smile at the scene and I shake my head, deciding against waking them up.

I walk out of the dojo and go straight to the kitchen, opening the fridge as I grab one of the left over pieces from the pizza Leea made and eat it cold.

_"Even cold this tastes betta than delivery"_I think to myself as I eat, once that's done I drink a glass of water and walk out, by this time thoroughly ready to go upstairs and sleep. When I notice Leea asleep in the armchair and wince at her uncomfortable looking position.

I roll my eyes and walk over to her, noticing Leo and Bre asleep on the couch. Bre's head on his shoulder and his against the back of the couch, his arm must have once been on the back of the couch but is now haphazardly placed around Bre's waist protectively as though it had fallen and his subconscious decided to hold onto her. I find myself smiling again and roll my eyes, too cutesy for my blood.

I look down at Leea once again, her legs up on the arm of the chair. She has her arms crossed above her knees and her head resting on her arms. I cringe at the pains she'll probably feel in the morning if she doesn't readjust herself.

I think of the empty guest room upstairs and step forward, slowly and gently slipping my arms beneath her back and legs, lifting her up. As I do this I get a waft of apples and cinnamon and have to contain a sigh, I don't get why I love that scent but I do, makes me feel like I'm home.

I walk around the couch and Leea shifts slightly, one arm curled around something in her lap and the other now lightly placed against my chest, I feel a flush crawl up my neck and start to walk faster.

Whatever she's holding in her lap starts to move and I groan quietly as I realize that it's Jinx when she starts growling at me.

"Hush, I ain't doin nothin for you to be pissed about " I tell the pit bull pup in a whisper, she steps forward on Leea's stomach and sniffs me. Then curls right back up on her and falls asleep, pulling a smile from me. I climb the stairs and can't help but feel proud that carrying her, a puppy, and climbing the stairs hasn't even winded me.

I reach the guest room and maneuver my arm slowly to turn the door knob, once that's done I kick the door open gently and step inside.

I walk over to the bed and, readjusting my left so I can hold her in one arm, pull the covers back and lay her down. I pick the puppy up off of her as I cover her lightly with the blanket's bunched up at the foot of the bed, placing Jinx gently beside her.

Jinx walks right up next to Leea's side and snuggles down against her as I look at Leea's face in the dim light from the hallway and just watch her sleep for a minute. Then after realizing what I've been doing is creepy as all hell I leave the room quickly.

I quickly pass Leo's room next door and go to my own, opening the door. I survey the contents, my room is pretty much a personalized man cave or well in my case a personalized turtle man cave.

With a TV and couch at the foot of the bed, my own bathroom which I put in myself with the help of don, a dart board on the back of the door that I use for my sai, and a few scattered posters of Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, no one would mistake that I'm a macho guy.

I walk in and go right to the bed, pulling back the covers and slipping in. I drop the sweat rag on the nightstand and lay there for a few minutes.

_"Why the hell does she affect me when my own brothers and April can't?"_I ask myself slightly annoyed, I yawn wide enough to crack my jaw and promptly fall asleep. Dreaming of fighting a certain hockey masked asshole.

_**~* Bre's pov*~**_

I wake up and look around, knowing I'm not on the couch with Leo where we fell asleep. I see a room with little more than a desk, a bookshelf, a swivel chair, a nightstand, and a bed. I sit up, yawning and stretching, pulling my muscles back into place as I swing my feet over the side of the bed.

I see Jinx sitting at the foot of the bed and smile as she wakes up and stretches with me, crawling over to lay in my lap. I scoop the puppy up into my arms and stand, walking over to the partially open door and out.

I walk through the still darkened hall with Jinx asleep in one arm and my hand holding the railing to guide me. Miraculously I get myself down the stairs in the dark and walk to the couch setting Jinx down on it and laying the blanket on top of the couch over her. I grab my bag from the armchair where I must have left it last night and grab my phone turning it on.

The times 9:21 am

I groan quietly but then hear a small whine from the kitchen and stick my phone in the back pocket of my jeans. I walk quietly toward the sound and upon arriving in the kitchen, see Don holding a crabby looking Owen.

"Hey, you okay?" I ask concerned once I see his expression, he looks dog tired. He whips around and Owen laughs, Don squints his eyes at me and I smile sympathetically, holding my arms out to him. "Here let me try"

"Alright but he's really _really_ finicky right now" Don says, looking glad that I offered. He hands Owen to me and I cradle the baby in my arms, Owen grabs onto my hair and starts playing with it as I rock him gently, I look up at Don.

"Alright Doc, head to bed, I got this" I order lightly, Don looks like he might argue but I raise an eyebrow at him and he smiles, shaking his head. He comes up and kisses Owens forehead lightly then walks out of the kitchen to where his family's room is adjoined to the lab.

I walk around the kitchen, rocking Owen and trying to get him to fall asleep. I frown a bit but then I remember what April had said about how she always got him to bed. I walk over to my iPod where I'd left it on the counter and turn on _'Angel Lullaby'_ by Reba McEntire.

**_*Midnight moonlight shining through the curtain lace_**

**_Paints a perfect picture on your perfect face_**

**_One sweet angel sleeping in my arms*_**

I smile down at him as he starts to drift a little, singing with the song.

**_*You are the promise I knew god would keep_**

**_You are the gift that makes my world complete *_**

Owen smiles up at me and sticks his thumb in his mouth, still holding onto my hair in his other hand.

**_*And you'll never know how much I love you *_**

I twirl gently with him in my arms and he smiles a little, His eyes drooping further.

**_*But I'll keep on telling you my whole life through_**

**_Now I believe in miracles_**

**_And your the reason why_**

**_So dream on while I sing you my angels lullaby *_**

I smile as the song tapers off and he's sound asleep, I feel a weird warmth by my head and frown a little bit until Leo scares the crap out of me.

"Usually April, Raph or master splinter are the only ones who can get him to sleep that way" Leo says in my ear, I jump, luckily not waking him up.

"Jesus! Wear a bell or something!" I whisper angrily at him as I turn around. He holds his hands up in mock surrender but I see a smile breaking through his usually trained features.

"Sorry I just came to wake you up for morning training and you weren't in the guest room so I came down here! By the way I want to work on meditation again so try to calm your mind this time" he says with an itty bitty smirk, I roll my eyes and chuckle.

"Yeah, cause that went so well last time" I say back to him, I remember last night lesson in meditation and shudder at my inability to sit still and clear my mind.

"Well we'll try to work on that" Leo says pleasantly, I nod and look up into his onyx eyes and he into mine, I don't know how long we're like that but when I feel a blush crawl into my cheeks I look down at Owen to hide it.

"So um, where should I put him? I don't think it's a good idea for me to go into the lab since Don just went to sleep" I ask Leo, I hear him clear his throat and I look up at him. He's smiling shyly and he reaches forward, pulling my hair from Owens grip gently, in response to which Owens curls up more against my chest.

My maternal instincts tell me that this is indeed the cutest baby moment ever. Leo steps even closer to me, gently transferring Owen from my arms to his and walking from the kitchen. I follow and see him go into the lab, coming out a moment later Owenless.

"How'd you do that?" I ask him still in a whisper, he laughs loudly and I'm surprised by it.

"You don't have to whisper the labs been soundproofed since before April even met Don" he says with a shrug, I laugh and he gestures for me to follow him to the stairs. I raise an eyebrow.

"Where are we going?" I ask, he points to the last door on the left side of the hallway,

"I thought it would be easier for you to focus if you weren't in a room with multiple people and I just saw Leeanna come out of the dojo with a camera so you can bet things are about to get loud" he says with a chuckle, I laugh a bit as we climb the stairs, resolving to go get those pictures of Leea sleeping developed today for some good black mail should she try to prank me.

As we get to Leo's room I find myself very curious as to what it would be like since he hasn't allowed any of us to go in since we've met him. He opens the door and holds it for me.

I'm greeted by the scent of incense and a room chock full of candles, Japanese books and pictures. It's like someone from Japan moved in and left without his stuff, but I know that this is probably a very regular Leo thing.

"Wow, this is so cool!" I say as I investigate the pictures, Leo smiles and gestures to the bed.

"Thank you, I got it from a very old friend of the family, sit down there and we'll start" he says kindly, gesturing to the middle of his bed I sit on the bed and he sits directly opposite me. "It helps to sit in the lotus position, here try mimicking the way I'm sitting"

"Okey dokey smokey" I say as I try to get my legs to bend the way his are, I spend ten minutes trying for it before I actually succeed.

"Alright now close your eyes and empty your mind of everything, just focus on your breathing, in through your nose out through your mouth, counting each breathe" he tells me calmly, I close my eyes and try to clear my mind, just focusing on my breathing but I find that I can't focus. After what feels like twenty minutes of trying and failing Leo finally ends my frustration with a statement so contrast to the quiet that it might as well have been a gun shot "Your not focusing"

"I'm trying to but I just can't!" I groan, opening my eyes to look at Leo, flopping back onto his bed in frustration. Leo opens his too and sighs once he sees my expression, chuckling a little at my exuberance.

"Alright we'll end here for today but we'll have to start with this again soon okay?" he says lightly, standing up and helping me out of my leg contortionist thingy.

I nod and again he opens his door for me and we walk out, as soon as the door opens I hear Liza yelling for Lee to do something and everyone else laughing hysterically. I walk to the stairs and laugh a bit. Liza and Leeann are rolling around on the floor, wrestling over a camera and Leeann's smirking.

"You shouldn't have taken my picture while I was sleeping if you didn't want me to take a picture of you and Mike all cuddled up on the dojo floor!" she yells back to her, Mikey's laughing stops and he blushes like mad man.

Leea throws Liza off and it's only now I realize that Leea's boot is gone because she hightails it to the lairs door and out before Liza can even follow but once she does she's off like a shot. I look at the hallway clock and my jaw drops

It's 4:45 pm,

"Time flies when you're meditating Bre even if you aren't really focused" Leo says behind me, I smile and follow him down the stairs. I catch up to him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey do you mind coming with me topside to go grocery shopping? I wanted to make a big dinner for everyone tonight since Leea and Liz start school on Monday next week" I say hopefully, he stops for a moment and then nods.

"I'll come with you, that sounds like a great idea" Leo responds with a serious expression. He goes to get his coat while I go to get my purse and my jacket.

_**~*Karai's P.O.V, 7:55pm*~**_

I walk into the compound, proud of the way the ninja now bow as I pass by. Though I'm still irritated by the picture of that blond woman that I received today due to my orders to watch the streets for these women, and why was that?

Because she was next to Leonardo

I know he wore a trench coat in the picture but I knew it was him by his height and the way held himself. Protective yet professional as always, I can't help but wonder if the woman means anything to him but I shrug it off.

_"I can always ask her once she arrives, and if she is? Well then that'll be fun"_ I think to myself as I enter my father's office. He sits in his chair, examining a shuriken. I walk before him and kneel.

"Father, I return with pleasing news." I tell him confidently, he raises his eyes to mine and I lower my own.

"Do tell then Karai" he says, motioning for me to speak. I nod and raise my eyes once more.

"Hun Mason has taken the task of acquiring our.. Guests into his own hands" I say with a small almost imperceptible smirk. Father looks at me intensely for a moment and sighs.

"Never the less I'd like to relinquish the task to you daughter, that bumbling mass of muscle is almost as incompetent as those in that syndicate of his" father says as he pinches the bridge of his nose in irritation. I look up at him in surprise but quickly school my features, silently smiling on the inside.

"How would you like them delivered father?" I ask, secretly hoping he'll say dead or alive.

"I want them alive and unharmed" he sits straighter to peer down at me "to an extent of course, no lethal injuries, only blows that will render them free of consciousness, but if you must you will incapacitate them to bring them to me"

"Hai father" I say quietly, I begin to think of all the ways to acquire the women and smirk. "If you will give me leave tonight I heard of a place that one of the turtles will go tonight I could try to acquire this turtle first to use to lure the others out of hiding before attempting the capture of these three women"

Father is silent for a moment and I wait as patiently as I can, finally he nods his dismissal and I rise from my kneeling position, walking from the room and motioning for the foot ninja to congregate in the main room.

Once they've done just that I designate twenty five to come with me. I know who I will try to acquire first and I hope with each fiber that they'll fight so I can exact the strange feeling in the pit of my stomach on them that I've had ever since I saw that one woman with him.


	7. BTY Chapter 7

_**~* Leea's Pov 8:05 pm* ~**_

I pace around the garage waiting for Raph to come and meet me. I'd taken off the medical boot to test my ankle this morning and found it easily walkable, I'd even done a round of punches into Raph's bag and found that even with the bouncy movements of my stances I can still box.

Bre had left the lair with me to drop by her apartment and the dorm to get clothes and I now wear a white tank top and black skinny jeans.

"What're ya pacing for doll?" I jump practically out of my skin and whip around to face Raph and his now amused expression "jeez why ya all tensed up?"

"Cause I've got a creepy feeling that says something bads going to happen" I tell him after smacking him upside the head, cringing internally at the superstitious nonsense I just divulged.

"What the- what was that for?!" Raph asks me after I've smacked him, I glare at him.

"For every time you've called me doll that I've missed" I say innocently through my glare, I grab his helmet from the bike and hand it to him. I'm holding the jacket he let me use Tuesday night and hold it out to him. "You might want this "

"Nah you wear it, looks betta on you anyway" he says as he walks over to a cardboard box next to the tool box. Raph pulls an old and battered trench coat out and try's it on with a nostalgic smile. "Used to wear this thing when I was fifteen years old, back when we first met April"

"Not that I don't enjoy watching you go all soft and nostalgic just so I can blackmail you later but don't we have a hockey masked maniac to get to?" I ask him with wry smile to let him know I'm kidding about the blackmail. He turns to me and sighs, rolling his eyes as he puts on the motorcycle helmet, suddenly he notices my unbooted foot.

"Hey weren't ya wearin a boot?" he asks curiously, I shrug.

"I took it off this morning and it feels fine even after bein chased around the sewers by Liz for an hour" I tell him light toned, Raph waves it off and wakes over to the motorcycle, swinging is leg over the side and motioning for me to get on behind. I try to ignore the thrill of going on another ride and walk over, mimicking his movements. I shrug the jacket on and put my arms around Raphs waist to hold on.

"Ya ready doll?" he asks me as he kick starts the bike, I smack him upside the head as best I can with him wearing the helmet again and find myself grateful that he can't see my smile.

"Damn right, lets go! By the way don't call me doll" I shout to him, he doesn't wait for my answer before peeling out of the garage, nearly going into a wheelie on the way out. I laugh and hold onto him a bit tighter. I feel my hair whip around my face and at a red light I pull it into a ponytail.

Suddenly I hear a loud screech behind us and after checking the side mirror Raph's arm shoots back and grabs the side of my shirt, pulling me against his shell.

As he pulls forward into the intersection and swerves to the side, I put my arms around his waist and hold on tightly, having no clue what's going on.

"Don't let go of me!" he shouts back at me, I nod and forget he can't see me.

"What's going on?" I shout up to him, he shakes his head and tells another motorcycle that swerves around us, quite nearly hitting us, to fuck off as he goes after it. Raph slips between cars and follows the man with the duffel bag strapped to his back all the way into Central Park, all of a sudden it hits me.

It's Casey.

"That son of a _bitch_!" I shout in surprise and anger as we roll to a stop just outside of a clearing where Casey's already parked. Raph is off the bike and already storming toward Casey before I can even move, and when I can I pull myself off the bike and go after Raph, getting in between the two hotheads who've again started to stare each other down, yet again I find myself smushed as I try to push them apart.

"You a moron or something? Ya coulda killed us!" Raph growls reaching past me and shoving the black haired man.

"You ready to fight me freak?" Casey shouts, not even acknowledging me. I see him pull something from behind him and see a pair of short bats.

"Raph watch-" I start to warn him but Casey swings one of them at Raphs head and the turtle catches it, looking at it and them at him. "Out.."

Raph nudges me out of the way as he turns the bat in his hand to read it.

"A Jose Canseco bat? _tell_ me, you didn't pay money for this" he says mockingly as he pulls me behind him, Casey swings the other one and hits Raph hard in the shoulder.

"Two fer one sale pal" Casey says cheekily, shrugging his shoulders a bit.

I get myself between them again and start trying to calm Casey down.

"Look from what I saw last time you seem like a good person, we're all on the same side here" I say calmly as Raph picks himself back up and seethes a few steps behind me. Casey looks down at me and glares a snarl escaping him as he rips off his mask.

"This ain't your fight doll, go back to the Lair so I can teach this guy a lesson" Raph tells me, I turn to give Raph a give me a few more seconds look, I turn back to Casey who looks like he might just pop a blood vessel as he tries to barrel through me to get to Raph. I try to stop him with my hands on him chest.

"Teach me a lesson? That's it ya freak I've had it with you!" Casey shouts in a rage, shoving me hard enough to the side that I fall on my ass on his way to storming Raph

I catch Raph snarl something along the lines of calling Casey a fuckin prick then hear a resounding thud and within milliseconds Raph and Casey are grappling on the ground.

I wince as I lay there, my ribs protesting more now at the rough treatment than before, still just a tad bit sore. I groan and sit up as the pain fades, seeing a green and pale blur rolling around on the grass of the clearing, the light from the lamps the only thing making them visible. I frown at the sudden inability to see properly and notice that the light from the street is blocked out more than it was by the trees surrounding us. I'm up to a crouch when I first notice the first black blurs moving in and out of the trees.

"Uh Red?" I mock whisper to them, so the people circling us won't hear. The two brawlers don't stop, only keep slugging each other and calling each other names. I push myself to my feet and walk over to the brawling men. I grab reds trench coat collar but before I can pull him off, they turn so violently that they pull me down with them.

I'm underneath them both when I finally lose my patience, Lifting my fingers to my lips I give my shrillest whistle yet.

"Raph! Casey! We got company!" I shout as loud as I can with two full grown men on top of each other and on top of me.

They stop suddenly and look around at the now rapidly approaching black clothed circle of people.

All but one wear a mask, and the one that isn't wearing one is the woman that Raph notices first, growling one word loudly as he pins Casey with his fist still poised to strike even though I'm still pinned beneath them both.

"Karai"

"Foot ninja, attack!" she commands, her voice soft and pleasant as she gives the mob her order, I quickly wriggle out from beneath the boys as the ninja swoop down on us and the fight begins.

After about ten minutes of nonstop ninja I reach into my pocket and take out my phone. I know immediately that we need back up and I hit the emergency call button. Bre picks up after two rings.

"Leea? Where'd you go?" she starts to ask before I interrupt her with a yell as a foot ninja comes sailing through the air aiming a kick at my head, needless to say I duck.

"Back up! we need it! Leo, Don, Mikey, You, and Liza get your asses to Central Park now!" I shout into the phone, not really noticing how panicked I sound, I've never gone up against this many people before and its messing with my head.

Hanging up and putting the phone into my pocket as I dodge another fist and roundhouse kick another ninja in the stomach. I look around to find Raph and Casey back to back as if they'd fought together forever, glaring as I question why they couldn't have just done that before.

_**~ * Bre's pov * ~**_

Leeann hangs up and for a moment my I'm stunned but I snap out of it and clamber out of the quest room to the railing, gripping it with white knuckles. I don't stop to wonder what she'd meant by _'we'_ instead, I just decide to get everyone's attention.

"Earth to all mutant turtles! We got to get to Central Park now!" I shout loud enough that Leo and April come out of the kitchen, Don from the lab and Mikey and Liza from the dojo. I run to the stairs and take them two at a time. Leo walks up to meet me and catches me when I trip myself up four steps from the bottom.

"Whoa Bre, what's wrong? Why do we need to go to Central Park?" he asks me, he's clearly confused. I tear myself from his grip and go to the elevator as I explain. "Lee just called me freaking out, she's in a fight and practically screamed at me that they need back up "

I watch as the guys features straighten into seriousness, Leo grabs my shoulder calmly and directs me toward the couch but I pull myself from his grip.

"No! Don't even tell me I can't go with to help! She called me for help and that's exactly what I'm going to do! Do you realize how much it takes to freak _Leeanna_ out? Do you realize what it takes for her to ask us and you guys to risk ourselves?" I ask him knowing that's what he was going to say, he stops and processes what I've said then nods.

"Lets go, all of us " he says with a look to Liza and the rest.

_**~ * Leea's pov ten minutes later * ~**_

I groan when for the second time a fist catches my face by surprise. I lash out angrily and hit him square in the temple, knocking him unconscious instantly and feeling a zing of pride at the one shot knock out.

"You doin okay doll?" Raph shouts to me for the fifth time, I roll my eyes as I roundhouse one black clothed man into another.

"For the last time stop callin me doll! I'm just fine!" I shout back at him, my countryness seeping into my voice as I do. Him and Casey have been fighting side by side like they were born to and I can't help but wonder why they couldn't have fought together before so none of this might have happened.

"Are you sure you are fine?" a haughty male voice asks behind me, I whirl around just in time to duck from an incoming sword.

"Yep, pretty sure? Are _you_?" I ask the man in black, he yells some sort of battle cry and lunges at me sword first, I dodge to the side and grab his wrist as it goes by, digging my nails into the pressure point there.

He drops the sword but grabs my shirt in his other hand pulling me over his shoulder and flipping me onto my back on the ground, the air knocked out of me, I try desperately to breathe.

The man quickly straddles me and pins my hands above my head with one hand and holding a knife to my throat with the other.

"I think you should rethink your current status" he says cockily, I try to buck him off but he's sitting on my legs so I can't move them to regain any leverage. As he lifts the knife above my heart I feel it respond by thudding frantically. I try harder to pull one of my hands out of his grip and just as he's about to plunge the thing into my chest he's pulled off as if he weighs nothing.

I only have to wonder for a few seconds before I see Donnie standing over me, a hand stretched out to help me up. I take the offer and he pulls me up quickly to my feet.

"Are you okay?" he asks gesturing to my neck, I frown but then touch the spot where the knife had been and pull my hand back, just a little blood there.

"Yeah I'm fine, took you guys long enough though! Did y'all stop for pizza!" I ask him, he rolls his eyes.

"No, just couldn't get through traffic fast enough with the van " he says with a shrug as another guy comes at us, Don jabs him in the stomach with his Bo and the guy falls. To my right I hear something about a split kick and multiple overly relieved requests to see it again from Raph.

I look around and find that everyone but Sensei and obviously Owen's here. Mikey and Liza are fighting together and Leo and Bre are to. As April takes on a group of her own Don leaves me to go fight with her.

After a moment of silence and no one coming after me. I wonder why they've suddenly decided to leave me alone but then I hear a rustle of leaves behind me and whirl around.

Right in time to receive a left hook to the jaw from the woman I saw earlier. I'm surprised by how hard this girl can hit and I don't have a chance to do anything but block and dodge because then she goes into an all-out flurry of moves that I can't keep up with.

_**~ * Bre's pov * ~**_

"You doing okay over there?!" Leo yells to me, I kick another man in the back of the head. Somehow during the fight more people wielding pipes and other assorted items with dragon tattoos managed to join to the fray, we've taken down the majority of both but we're still outnumbered.

"I'm okay!" I shout back, cringing apologetically as the man falls. Leo turns from the four ninja he's fighting and points at me with his katana.

"Don't feel bad kicking these guys butts they aim to kill and if you give them the gift mercy they'll take advantage" he shouts to me and turns back to face his four, I hear him excitedly tell them to bring it on, then taking care of them in a pinch when they do.

A couple feet away I see Raphs friend as he realizes we've come to join them. He looks around his gaze lingering on Lizzie, Leeanna, me, and April. A hand put dramatically on his chest as he rafiki punches some guy in the nose.

"Hoo, who are all the babes?" he asks, I see him look at Lizzie and Mikey glare at him. i smirk happily at the protective display as he flips kick someone and lands blocking the guys view of Lizzie.

"I so called it!" I think to myself, a hand drops on my shoulder and I grab it, twisting and flipping the man over me.

When he lands I take off his black mask and see he's nothing more than a boy and let go.

The kid stares up at me with bright blue eyes and sandy blonde hair that barely reaches to his ears and eyebrows.

"Why would you..." the kid asks, not moving at all. I smile at him.

"Little kids shouldn't be fighting" I say pleasantly, I extend my hand to him and he grasps it as I help him to his feet.

"But.. We were sent here as back up by Hun for Karai to sedate you and take you and your friends to Master Shredder, why would you not kill me when you had a chance?" he asks me, I can't help but be reminded of my little brothers when he tilts his head in confusion. My heart speeds up when he says sedate.

"Sedate? With what?" I ask franticly, thinking of Lizzie and Leeanna. He reaches into his belt and takes out a syringe full of a silvery white liquid and I recognize it as a standard anesthetic. "Well shit, Leea's not going to like that at all "

"Who's Leea?" the boy asks just before he goes rigid and his eyes roll up into his head, he falls forward and I catch him. Leo's standing behind him looking like he has no emotion whatsoever.

"What the hell was that?" I ask him frustratedly, glaring at Leo, I lower the boy to the ground and put his mask back on.

"Don't take pity on these guys, They'll take your mercy and stab you in the back with it" he says solemnly as he goes off to fight some more. I look around and see Liz fighting a behemoth of a man and Leeann just barely matching a woman in all black at the edge of the clearing. I immediately start fighting through the mob to get to Liz, knowing Leea can manage.

_**~ * Liza's Pov * ~**_

I hit another man in the pressure points Mikey had shown me. Somehow we've gotten separated and now I'm facing down one of the biggest men I've ever seen in my life.

I gulp when he charges at me like a bull and I jump out of the way, he misses completely and looks around for me.

By that I know he isn't the brightest crayon in the box and he turns around running at me again, but this time he grabs my shirt as it passes him and lifts me off my feet.

I start to kick and punch at him but he grabs my wind pipe and cuts off all noise I might have made to get someone's attention.

I glance to my right and see Leea fighting some Japanese chick and I try harder to get her attention but just then I'm slammed back first into a tree as his hand tightens more. I dig the nails of one hand into his elbows pressure point and the nails of my other hand into the tree just because that's what I happened to grab.

I glance at Leeann just as she looks at me and see her turn from her fight. She starts toward us but the chick whips an arm around her neck and holds her back just as I feel my head going numb and my lungs burning.

I feel a prick at my neck and struggle more as I realize he's injecting me with something, it's starts out as an ach spreading all around my body till I don't know if I can take it but then my whole of it goes numb.

I lash out with my semi limp hand and catch his mask, pulling it off his face. He's got to be about 25, with tears in my eyes from the lack of oxygen I notice from his expression that he looks almost sorry that he's choking me but I don't have time enough to examine my theory before I pass out.

_**~ * Leea's Pov 3 minutes earlier * ~**_

"My father requests the presence of you and your friends, will you come willingly?" Karai asks me sweetly as she continues to keep me on my toes. I grit my teeth in frustration. "You know I originally came here to procure Raphael and the masked vigilante but imagine my delight to see two out of the seven objects of interest for my father and now that you've been so kind as to bring the others I thought I would thank you personally, you could say that because of you I'll be killing two birds with one stone... Literally "

I watch her movements, creating a road map in my head of her fighting style, getting more and more pissy by the second at her mention of killing Raph and threatening the others.

"Tell your daddy I said to fuck off" I tell her once I find her rhythm, I duck under her fist at the critical moment, shouting angrily as I send an uppercut into her in the jaw. Her head snaps back and I twist, sending her a hard roundhouse to the ribs. She falls back on her ass and stares up at me in shock.

"What? Can't take a hit sweetie?" I ask her, intentionally trying to piss her off because of the whole sneak attack thing. She glares at me and flips back onto her feet.

" I can take a hit, the question is can your friends? " she says, pointing somewhere to our left, I look and see Liza backed up into a tree and held there by the throat by a man twice her size, she's looking at me.

My eyes widen and I start to take off in her direction when a slender arm goes around my neck and tightens till I can't breathe, I grit my teeth once again.

I'm determined not be near suffocated twice, so I pretend to let myself drop as though I've passed out and she lets me fall with a dark laugh, but then I sweep her legs out from under her.

I don't wait to see if she stops herself from falling, I take off in Liza's direction and unwind the manriki Raph had made me bring tonight, twirling it above my head, unleashing it to wind around the bigger man's neck.

I pull him off of her and surprise him enough that he drops Liza, who must've have passed out already. I dodge around the man as he tries to wrench the chain from his neck and I drop down beside Liza, my fingers going to her throat and wrist. The pulse is still going strong and I smile in relief.

Then I hear the sound of metal breaking and turn but not fast enough. The man from before grabs me by the face and wrenches me to my feet, lifting me off the ground.

"You seem to like pain little girl, taking on the shredders daughter like that" he says to me, I can tell he's not to smart. His hand covers my mouth along with my right eye and keeps me from spitting in his face as I'd like to.

I try for a kick and he catches my ankle, I try digging my nails into his hand and nothing happens.

I'm pushed against the tree like Liza had been, breathing through my nose as I try again to kick him and get him in the stomach. I start shouting into his hand, only muffled curses coming out.I kick out again as he drops my other foot and takes some kind of syringe with a huge needle from his belt and holds it up.

My heart rate quickens to a deafening pace as I kick harder at him, he backs out of the reach of my left foot, still holding onto my face.

"Master Shredder said to sedate you, don't move okay? I might hurt you if you move" he says gently, I start to swearin to his hand as he brings the syringe close to my neck. I grab the hand with the syringe and struggle more, tears in my eyes as my terror of needles start to _really_ sink in.

I push his hand away with everything I have but I know I can't hold him for long. I beat my foot against the tree as hard as I can trying to make as much noise as possible to draw attention.

I don't feel the tears spill over and go down my cheeks as suddenly the needles plunges forward along with the man's body and it hits my neck, sliding in partially before the man's torn away from me. As he lets go I fall onto the ground, my eyes wide and the needle still in my neck. I see a silhouette in front of me with a slight band of blue around his head and know it's Leo but I don't pay him any attention.

I grab the syringe and pull it out against the orders of the turtle before me, shaking as I do. I feel oddly calm as I stare at the thing in my hands, but as I realize the red on my hands is blood my head goes light and my sight blurs drastically. I drop the needle suddenly and only when someone grabs my hands and forces them to stop moving do I realize just how out of control they were with their shaking.

"Lee? Sweetie take _deep_ breathes, you aren't getting enough air like that" I hear Bre's voice and try to focus but my whole world turns upside down. Bre let's go of my hands and grabs my face, wiping something off my cheeks. I realize I must be crying and then that the short sobs I'm hearing are my own. All of a sudden the sounds of fighting are gone and everyone's around us, Mikey by Liza and Don going from me to her.

Leo drops down by Bre and looks at me in concern then looks down at my lap and gingerly picks up the syringe I'm staring at, taking it away from my view. Bre tries to coach me in how to breathe but I can barely hear her voice at all now.

Raph is suddenly there and Casey too. The red banded turtle kneels for a moment and says something I can't hear, then he's picking me up and carrying me somewhere. I jump when his voice shines through clear as day.

"Leeanna? I want you to count down from ten, can ya do that fer me?" he says calmly, I find myself clinging to him still crying, suddenly I smell something familiar and calm down a little ,letting the scent sooth my raw nerves.

I start to take larger breathes as we stop and he climbs into a large hippie like van. He sits on the floor of the van, his legs dangling out the back hatch but doesn't let go of me, his arms tighten around me in his lap and I start to relax muscles I hadn't even known I had.

"Leea, count with me okay?" he asks nicely, we start to count together now, me shakily and him shockingly calm.

_10_...I nod slightly and feel my breathing begin to return to normal

_9._.., I hear my crying stop completely,

_8_... My shaking slows and crawls to a stop, looking up at Raph as I calm down.

_7_... My heart starts to slows, the aching I feel in it from hyperventilating gone

_6_... I loosen my left hand around Raphs coat and try to move my stiff fingers to loosen them.

_5_... I relax the arm that's around his neck and have the sense to wonder how it got there

_4_.. I remember Liza and gasp, trying to get up but Raph doesn't let go.

"Finish counting, Liz's fine" he orders firmly, I nod, for the first time trusting him fully.

_3_... I reach up to touch my neck to see if the pain I still feel there will hurt more but Raph grabs my hand and stops me, holding it longer than he needs to.

_2_... I look up at him again right when he looks down at me, I realize how close we are just as I hear the others start to approach

_1_... Raph's eyes and expression change from bright, confused and concerned to Stoney, cold and inscrutable in a matter of seconds.

He sets me down in the back of the van as if he's only now realized something that I didn't and leaves me there as Bre and the others come out of the trees.

Bre walks over to the van and pulls herself up to sit next to me as I recognize the scent on Raph as sage.

"You okay?" she asks, hugging me gently. I nod silently, not trusting my voice as I hear a couple of motorcycles start and watch as Raph and Casey drive past us and into the road.

Mikey climbs into the van holding Liza in his arms. He looks really _really_ worried and I try to stand to go over to them both because, well, I am too but Don grabs my wrist and shakes his head as he climbs in and gets me into a seat.

"You just came out of shock you need to sit and drink water, stay here" he orders, throwing a water bottle from a compartment under the seat to me and gesturing to April and Bre to make sure I do as he goes to examine Liza, whose still passed out in Mikey's arms. Leo comes in and gives something to Don.

"This is what they used, all of its still there, get it tested to see what we're dealing with please" he says making his order sound more like a request. Don nods and I see the syringe in his hand, my stomach turns and I look quickly away as April starts to clean the blood from my neck and collarbone.

I close my eyes and hold my expression in firm seriousness, in other words my poker face.

I can't help but wonder what made Raph leave like that, I can't help but think that maybe he didn't want to be seen like that with me, I'd felt so safe when he was holding onto me, like nothing could go wrong…

_"What are you thinking? He's not interested, no one has been since asswipe so why would he be?"_I laugh at myself, trying to keep the scowl off my face. Then wonder why the thought of him not being interested bothered me so much. I feel my stomach harden and I take a deep breath.

I hear the doors close and a moment later everyone's seated and the van lurches forward, heading back to the lair.

_**~ * Raph's Pov three hours later * ~**_

_"Why the fuck does she get to me?!"_I yell at myself in my thoughts, I couldn't believe I'd been about to make that mistake. I'm lucky everyone else came to the van when they did or I would've made a fool of myself.

Casey and I had stopped about an hour and a half ago and talked things out. I couldn't believe what he'd thought.

_**~^ flashback twenty minutes ago ^~**_

"Ya ain't bad for a hothead Jones" I tell as the conversation gravitates from beer to fighting styles to the fight itself. He laughs.

"Neitha are you Green! Aye you think Lanie'll be alright? She wasn't lookin to hot when we was leavin" Casey asks curiously, I shrug chugging the last of my beer.

"'Er names Leeanna an' if I know Don I know he'll have her fixed up and ready to go in no time, sides she seems like a tough enough chick " I tell him, nudging him with my elbow. Casey nods with an agreed 'meh' and cracks open another beer, after taking a long draught he looks over at me as though he just remembered something he wanted to talk about.

"So, how long've ya been with short stack?" Casey asks me as we drink our beers at the harbor, I nearly spit out what I had in my mouth when his comment sinks in.

"Never, she ain't my girl" I tell him matter of factly, now it's Casey's turn to look shocked.

"How long have you known'er?" he asks me, I shrug.

"About a week or so now, why?" I ask him, getting a little irritated by his shock, his jaw drops.

"And you haven't tried ta-" I clap a hand over his mouth before he can say somethin he'll regret.

"I ain't tried anythin with her, in case ya didn't notice I'm a 6'2 talking Turtle ya nut case" I say to him as I let go of his face. I feel my curiosity get ahold of me and keep talking. "Why'd ya think she was my girl?"

"Well from the way ya acted with her and how she acted with you, just thought you were togetha" he says with a shrug, I blink in surprise.

"Wait how she acts with me? How do I act with her?" I'm thoroughly curious now, I set my beer down on the harbor and watch Casey.

"Well, she seems ta trust ya and ya fight like an old married couple, sides she don't act like she just tolerates ya like most girls do with guys, she seems ta actually enjoy the company even if she don't want to admit it" Casey says with a laugh, I roll my eyes and sigh. He elbows me in the ribs. "an' you were pretty worried ova her in the fight and ya were the one to carry her away so I just assumed"

"Well I don't think it's anythin, someone that good can't like someone this damned" I say my tone going dark. Casey looks at me, looking a little concerned but I stand up and walk to my bike "It's late I got to go home, I'll see ya around okay?"

"Kay talk to ya later Raph" he says back to me.

_**~^ end of flashback ^~**_

I'm pulling into the garage as I shake the memory of our conversation, the beer in my system screwing with my balance as I step off and stumble to the elevator. As it lowers itself down to the lair I think about the moment when me and Leea had been in the back of van.

When I looked down at her she'd looked so sad, her face was wet from crying and her eyes looked really bright, the blue standing out against the green. I'd wanted to do anything I could to make her smile... And it scared me, thinking that for a second she'd climbed my walls and made me show emotion.

So I left her sitting there, bleeding and probably still shocking in that van and took off to go drink with a guy I barely knew and who, not even four hours ago, I had been about to beat the shit out of.

I grit my teeth and before I can stop myself I punch the elevator wall as hard as I can. I look at my knuckle and see it bleeding but I don't feel the pain from it.

The doors slide open and I stumble in, the lights are all off except for the lab and the kitchen. I hear Leo, Mikey, Don and Master Splinter talking in the kitchen but when I look into the lab I see Liza still asleep on one cot with Bre sitting next to it, holding her hand and Leea sitting on the other with Owen on her lap.

Aprils tending to Liza and I can't help but smile when Owen squeals in laughter at something Lee must have done as he yanks the hair out of her head with both hands.

"Are you kidding? Look at the result from tonight Donatello" I hear Leo say unreasonably loud from the kitchen. I look back at Leeann briefly and see her look over to the door, a flash of something passes in her eyes and she mouths _'what's going on'_ but I look away quickly and ignore her question as I walk over to the kitchen door, leaning against the frame.

The occupants of the kitchen either have their backs to me or they just don't notice me there, Don and Leo are staring at each other in that calm sensible way that tells everyone that they're trying to be reasonable but are still pissed.

"I think it would be a great help to have the girls go on patrol with us," Don says point blank, I think about it and I have to agree with him. I can see Leo doesn't like this idea one bit though by the stubborn look on his face.

"But they obviously can't hold their own against the Foot and the Purple Dragons, Both groups now know what they look like if they didn't know already besides they'll just get in the way like they did tonight" Leo says trying and failing to sound realistic, I'm surprised by how angry he seems by the idea of the girls joining us on patrol.

Master splinter acknowledges me with a small and almost imperceptible nod which I return. Mikey's looking between the two and frowns at Leo's statement.

"The girls held their own just fine for their first official fight Leo, they did better than we did our first time out, and they weren't exactly in the way." Mikey reminds us, I raise an eyebrow when Leo's jaw clenches a little bit as if he were just trying to convince instead of knowing his position was the right one.

"Also statistically speaking if the girls hadn't have been there I doubt we would have made it out of that clearing alive" Don says, frowning at Leo's odd behavior.

"No Mike they didn't handle themselves better than we did, Elizabeth came home unconscious and Leea went into shock, they're hardly ready for patrol, besides we could have handled ourselves just fine without them there" Leo says all this as though it's their fault that it happened, I feel myself start to glare slightly and Master Splinter shakes his head at me, again in a way that my brothers don't see. Then it hits me, he's examining Leo's behavior.

That's when I notice the sweat on my older brother's forehead and the clenched fists, Leo's pissed and usually it's only me that can get him that way but something about this must have got him going. This is when Mikey gives me the shock of my life by standing up from where he'd been sitting as neutral party, banging his chair back and full out glaring at Leo.

"Don't you dare say that like it's their fault because it's not, they did do better than we expected them too, I mean for god's sake Liza got choked out and sedated Leo! Imagine if you had someone twice your size was squeezing the air from your lungs? And hell even you would freak if you had a syringe stuck halfway into your neck, and you're not even afraid of them, Leeanna is. I'm not at all surprised that she went into shock" Mikey says all this in one angry and stressed out breath and my eyes widen at his tone, in fact everyone's do.

It's silent for a second but Leo's the one to break it, and when he does he manages piss me off even more.

"Actually Mikey it is their fault for not being able to prevent it from happening. They aren't good fighters, They aren't ready for Patrol, and that's the end of it" Leo says, turning to leave the kitchen and seeing me for the first time. Mikes about to say something but I cut him off by raising a hand to curtly stop his words.

"Why are ya so hellbent on makin the girls out ta be bad fighters? Ya know, one would think you'd be happy to have the extra man power for patrol but no your standin here sayin that they're injuries are their fault. " I take a step forward and Leo glares at me, I continue in a voice that's just above a loud whisper "As for the Purple Dragons knowing them they could wear disguises, they could help us on recon missions cause god knows we stick out like a green thumb, and ya know what mista high and mighty? I seem ta remember seein Frankie take on Karai and holdin her own while Liz and Bre were kickin some major ass so why are ya sayin they ain't ready when it's obvious that they are? "

I leave off with a question, I look at him expectantly not backing down. The two of us are inches from each other now, his eyes levelish with mine as Leo glares at me, his onyx eyes staring right into my amber ones.

"_You_ don't _understand_ Raphael-" Leo starts to say something but again I cut him off.

"I think I understand completely, ya scared to lead more than us four into a fight so ya makin every excuse in da book ta keep them from coming with us on patrol " I say with a slightly angry smirk "By the way don't full name me Leonardo, cause in case ya haven't been payin attention the last twenty one years, my name don't scare me no more and neitha do you"

"You know what Raph? I'm not surprised that you aren't scared of me but don't forget that when it comes down to it I'm the leader of this team, not you!" Leo says, his tone low and angry. Master Splinter stands and cuts me off with a look just as I'm about to give Leo a piece of my mind.

"I have made my decision, the girls will accompany you on patrol this will give them the chance to learn more of what's happening to them by asking questions in places you cannot enter, they will be disguised of course but my decision has been made" Master Splinter says with a nod that all but Leo return.

"But Sensei they're hardly trained like we are, they don't stand a chanc-" Leo begins but Master Splinter cuts him off the same way he did me.

"That is why from now on you will teach them offensive techniques along with finding them a weapon of their own to use, I fear with the Foot now wanting to obtain our guests that they will need all of the protection they can get, But do not forget Leonardo that my decisions in this family are in fact final" Splinter says with a tense look to his shoulders, again we all nod. Even Leo does, but as soon as Sensei leaves Leo storms out of the kitchen and up the stairs, I hear his door click gently shut.

"I don't understand, why was Leo so angry about us suggesting the girls join us" Don says with that _-I've got to figure this out-_ look on his face. I sigh and shrug, stepping out of the kitchen just as Mikey runs to the lab shouting a _'Hey guess what?!'_ As he goes in only to be ordered to hush by multiple women and Donatello from the kitchen, who then facepalms as Owens tired laughter can be heard.

I head for the stairs and up, pausing for a minute to glance down at the lairs first floor. We've come so far with our training through the twenty one years we've survived, and now to have disciples of our own just seems surreal. Let alone ones that, for the most part, already have a knack for what they're being taught.

I shake my head and go to my room, remembering when I'd gone through a sleeping in a hammock phase when I was seventeen and chuckling a bit. I walk into my room and lay down, falling asleep almost instantaneously.

_**~ * Leo's Pov * ~**_

_"How can father even consider letting them go on patrol with us? It's to dangerous for April let alone for three women that have only been training for what six days?"_I rant in my head, I can't believe how angry I am but besides being angry I'm also worried, Raph was right.

I'm scared that if I lead them out on patrol they won't come back in one piece. I do have to admit that they are pretty good fighters for beginners even though I told my brothers they weren't ready.

Mostly I'm worried for them, I can't exactly put my finger on why but I decide that I'm going to split up the team when we go patrol. That way they will have the best shot at protecting each other when it's needed.

I stop myself, who should I team up with who though? I think of the faults and strengths of each team member and frown.

It only makes sense for me to pair up the girls with their teachers but for some reason I find myself dreading being paired with an angry Bre, I can't help but shudder at the memory of her glare after I knocked out the kid that attacked her.

No, I decide to pair her with Mikey because where she lacks in speed he has in spades while her strategic thinking will help Mikey focus as well.

I already know who I'm putting with Raph, Liza's apprehension to attack will be challenged by Raph and she'll probably want to prove herself while, again she'll force Raph to think of a plan before jumping into a fight if only because his protective nature will kick in with someone that's so much like Mikey.

Finally I decide to pair up with Leeann since god knows she's just a miniature feminine version of Raph, although she's more strategic than him I know for certain that she'd jump into a fight and get herself in trouble just as easily as he would.

Don and April don't need to be split up because they've always been the more cautious pair on this team and haven't really had any problems, they fight like a well-oiled machine.

I sigh and settle down in my bed, having sorted that out helps me to drift off to sleep.


End file.
